


Burning Cross

by smileyjunior



Category: The Killing
Genre: Case Fic, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Murder, Murder Mystery, Mystery, Non-Consensual Drug Use
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-11
Updated: 2020-10-19
Packaged: 2021-03-07 18:28:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 27,231
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26952166
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/smileyjunior/pseuds/smileyjunior
Summary: Immediately after solving the Larsen case, Holder gets a phone call about a murder and the detectives are on the case.
Relationships: Stephen Holder & Sarah Linden
Kudos: 5





	1. Day 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is a work of fiction, and I did research to the best of my ability. I in no way mean any harm or insult to any religions, religious practices, beliefs, cultures, or ways of life.
> 
> This story is AU in the sense that Linden does not leave the force after wrapping up the Larsen case.

November 3, 2012  
Day 1

Detectives Sarah Linden and Stephen Holder sat outside of the S.A. Larsen Moving and Storage Building in Ballard, Seattle, Linden having just dropped off Rosie’s video, and now the detectives were taking a moment to breathe. Because it was over, the Rosie Larsen case was closed, the Larsen family had closure, and justice had been served.

And quite frankly, the two detectives were exhausted in more ways then one and appreciated the reprieve they were granting themselves in the moment.

They sat in silence, Linden looked up at the Larsen’s flat, wondering if they were watching the love letter Rosie had made for them. Holder was willing himself to stay awake, his mind and body shutting down on him, a cigarette in his left hand was smoking down as he occasionally took a puff off of it. His first homicide case ever—and it was a doozy—was over. Banner-fucking-day.

Suddenly Holder’s cellphone rang, he rummaged in his pocket taking out the dammed thing that had interrupted the peace and quiet in the car.

“Yeah. Holder,” he brought the cigarette up to his lips.

“Seattle P.D. dispatch, a body has been found in the Industrial District on Diagonal Avenue right on the Duwamish Waterway, your Lieutenant says you’re next in rotation so it’s yours.”

Exasperated, and in disbelief Holder couldn’t stop the words from coming out of his mouth, “What? You gotta be kiddin’ me.”

There was a brief pause, “I don’t believe your lieutenant was kidding detective.” 

Privately, Holder figured Carlson didn’t kid period, the guy probably didn’t have a funny bone in his body. “Yeah, yeah, whatever we’ll be there.” Linden looked over at Holder as he shut the cellphone and looked at her, “They found a body down in the Industrial District, Lieu says we’re first up.”

Linden looked back over to the Larsen’s flat, a flock of seagulls flew overhead crying. After a moment she turned back to her partner, raised her eyebrows, and took a breath, “Let’s go then.”

Holder gawped at her, “For real? How are you not exhausted?”

Linden shrugged sighing, “Clock never stops Holder.” At the very least they could move forward with the thought that the Larsen case was over, they could put the whole thing behind them—until the trial.

Holder rolled his eyes, “Yeah, yeah, whatever.”

Linden chuckled dryly, “I’m sure there’s no way this next case will be as crazy or absurd as the Larsen case. Believe it or not they’re not all that bad.”

“How much you wanna bet it is?”

Without giving it any real thought, Linden replied, “Fifty dollars.”

“Imma hold you that Linden,” Holder started the ignition and pulled the car out of the alley that they had been parked in. Sarah’s eyes went to the rear-view mirror and lingered on the Larsen’s for the very last time.

——

After a 30-minute drive from Ballard, Holder pulled up to a warehouse that was right on the Duwamish Waterway. The grey sky did nothing for the body of water, the scenery providing a bleak outlook. The detectives turned to the warehouse’s tall entrance that was currently blocked by crime scene tape. A CSU stood just outside of the warehouse inside of the crime scene tape, he handed both of the detectives a pair of latex gloves which they pulled on before going inside. The detectives looked up at the victim—or what used to be the victim.

The body was burned beyond recognition, and what was more had been nailed to a wooden cross. The corpse’s arms were stretched out wide, the feet slightly crisscrossed, the jaw of the skull was open slightly, and looked like it was hanging by a thread.

Without looking at Linden, and his eyes still on the mock crucifixion, Holder deadpanned, “You owe me fifty bucks.” 

Sarah walked closer to the cross and took her flashlight out of her pocket, clicked it on and shined it on the body. The coroner was behind the victim, giving instructions to her assistant on collecting samples from the corpse. Sarah cleared her throat, “What do we got?” she asked.

The coroner looked up at Sarah, “I think it’s obvious, don’t you?” said the coroner. Not amused Sarah raised her brows expectantly. The coroner tapped her clipboard with her pen, “Fine, I don’t have cause of death, and I don’t have I.D.”

“What about gender? Age range?”

“No and no. You’ll have to wait for the full autopsy.”

Sarah nodded with her lips pressed hard together. Stepping right up in front of the victim, Sarah looked closely at the feet on the body, the burned flesh shined as she moved her flashlight over what had once been perfectly normal flesh. A white solid substance of some kind had melted into the remains on the feet, it looked rubbery, perhaps a remnant of sneakers. Her eyes slowly moved up the body, and she saw there was a small patch of burnt fabric halfway up the leg.

“Can we make sure we get CSU to document this?” Sarah called out, not to anyone in particular.

“Whatcha got Linden?” asked Holder, stepping up right behind her and shining his flashlight to join hers onto the corpse as well.

“What used to be a pair of sneakers and jeans I think.” Sarah said, getting as close as she could without actually touching the body. As she stepped forward her foot slipped in something and she lost her balance, Holder caught her before she went all the way down, throwing his arms underneath her armpits catching her. They froze there for a moment, Holder holding up Sarah in what looked like a type of trust fall, the coroner and her assistant watched in amusement. 

“You good?” Holder asked.

Flushed and embarrassed, Sarah righted herself and brushed him off, “Yeah, I’m good.” 

Sarah shined the torch down at the ground, and realized she had stepped in a liquid of some sort, “What is that?” Sarah crouched down, getting closer to the substance and shining the light on it, “There’s a smell... it’s stronger down here.”

“You mean besides the smell of a burnt human being?” asked the coroner blatantly.

Sarah looked up annoyed and bit her tongue, then she looked back up at the victim, something in the victim’s mouth caught the light from her torch and shined. Something that wasn’t burnt flesh. Sarah stood up slowly and kept the light from the torch on the corpse’s mouth, “Holder?”

From just behind her Holder responded, “Yeah?”

She pointed to the open jaw, “Can you reach inside there?” asked Sarah, quietly pointing to the open jaw, she glanced at the coroner to make sure she wasn’t looking their way.

Holder reached up, and into the victim’s mouth with two fingers, taking out what looked like a silver piece of jewelry. He brought his hand down, and shined his flashlight so both he and Sarah could see what the jewelry was. It was a pendant, the design was unique, it was something the detectives had never seen before: a circle with a crescent moon on the right and mirrored on the left.

Sarah’s eyebrows contracted as she examined the pendant, “What is it?”

“Not sure,” Holder shrugged, “Let’s bag it.” He waved for a CSU and handed the pendant off to be logged as evidence. Holder moved his flashlight back to the ground looking down, while Sarah kept her torch up at the mouth, both detectives were trying to brainstorm.

“Hey,” Holder said suddenly, “stand back.”

“What?” Puzzled, Sarah looked at him curiously.

“Jus’ take a step back I need to see something.”

Sarah hesitated for a moment before she did as he asked, once she stepped back, Holder crouched down and reached into his pocket pulling out his lighter. The moment Sarah realized what Holder was going to do she made to move forward, “Holder, no!”

Too late. 

The lighter met the substance on the floor and it burst into flame. Sarah grabbed Holder by the neck of his hoodie and dragged him backwards with immense strength. About to berate him for his foolishness, she turned to him fuming but he was staring at the flames pointing, “Look.”

Sarah looked down, the flames burned to form a word—or what used to be a word, the part of the substance she had slipped in was just a blob.

“Impenit—”

The two detectives stared at the word in the flames, transfixed.

“Put that out!” Snapped the coroner, “Before it damages the body further!” 

A CSU ran forward with a fire extinguisher and sprayed it on the flames until the fire was gone. Sarah and Holder looked up at the coroner who was simply seething with rage, “What the hell was that?!”

“I think it’s obvious don’t you?” said Holder, echoing the coroner’s own words back at her, “It was a message from the killer.”

“You’re damn lucky you didn’t burn down the building!” The coroner shouted, her face red.

“Alright.” Linden clicked off her flashlight and put it into her pocket, “we’ll get out of your way. Let us know about your findings, and when we can come down to the morgue.” Linden headed for the door and after on final glare at the coroner, Holder followed her.

Once the detectives were back at the car, Sarah whirled around and pointed a finger up at Holder, “What the hell are you playing at?!”

Holder raised his hands, “Damn Linden, chill!”

“Don’t tell me what to do!” Sarah put her arm down fuming, “That was reckless, and you could have compromised the crime scene.”

“But I didn’t,” Holder smiled, “I got us a clue.”

“A clue? This isn’t Mystery Incorporated Holder, we’re homicide detectives.” 

“You saw it too! “Impenitent”.” Sarah stared at Holder with her mouth slightly agape, the confusion was clear on her face. So he elaborated, “That’s what that word was, the one burning in the fire? Or I’m pretty sure that’s what it was.”

Sarah’s eyebrows scrunched together, “What makes you think that?”

Holder put his arms on the roof of the car, “You ever read the Bible Linden?”  
She raised an eyebrow, “You really want me to answer that question?”

Holder rolled his eyes, “Luke 23:33, J.C. was crucified with two thieves on either side of him.”

“So?”

“So, tradition says one of the thieves was impenitent.” He looked to his partner and watched as understanding began to register in her face, “Then again, they weren’t human barbecue so I could be like, way off base.”

After a moment Sarah shook her head, “No, Holder. It’s a theory and we work with theories.” She opened the car door and lifted another threatening finger, “Don’t ever do anything like that again.” With that, Sarah got into the car.

Holder threw up an arm, exasperated, “You’re welcome.” Then he got into the car as well.

——

Holder pulled into the parking lot of Seattle P.D. and turned off the car. At first he didn’t move and as Linden had reached for her door handle she looked over at him.  
“You alright Holder?”  
His head snapped to look over at her, “Yeah, yeah I’m fine. Jus’... never seen anythin’ like that. Don’t know what’s worse at this point. Girl in a water logged trunk or guy nailed to a cross and burned beyond recognition.”  
She nodded once and thought for a moment, “People can do terrible things. You should know, you worked in vice.”  
“Yeah I know,” he said quietly, “I wonder if it’ll ever come to a point where I ain’t surprised how terrible people can be.”  
Linden offered him a small smile, “I don’t think so, people never cease to amaze me with the horrible things they’re capable of. But I get through it knowing I won’t let them get away with it.”  
He turned and looked her in the eyes, “That’s badass Linden.”

Sarah rolled her eyes and shook her head as she opened the door the rest of the way, “C’mon, let’s go catch a killer.”

Holder sighed and got out of the car, “Clocks-a-ticking.”

——

Holder and Linden worked together to clear out all of the Larsen evidence and information that was still up on the boards in their office. They couldn’t just rip it off and put it away, they had to categorize and label each piece then methodically store it in the evidence boxes.

“Couldn’t we have gotten some uni’s to do this?” asked Holder.

“I prefer to do things myself,” said Linden, “Make sure nothing goes wrong.” Especially after that case, she didn’t say it, but they were both thinking it. The Larsen case had definitely left its mark in more ways the. One.

Finally, when they were done Linden reached for the Expo marker to start building the information for their new case.

On the board she wrote, “JOHN/JANE DOE” and made a few bullet points underneath. Holder collapsed into the chair behind his desk with such force that it rolled back and hit the wall behind him.

“So, so far, what we got is a victim—no age, gender, or name... mighta liked sneakers and jeans... strange jewelry...” Holder started to say.

“And a potential religious motive,” said Linden.

Holder put a hand on his heart, “Aw, you really do listen to me.”

Linden rolled her eyes and took a look at the board. Not a great beginning for the investigation, but it was what they had. 

“Have there been anything other religious motivated crimes that happened recently?” she asked, almost absentmindedly.

Holder slid forward to his computer and typed away, “Nothing recently.” he said, his hand bouncing off of the keyboard.

“Maybe it was...some kind of ritual?”

“The hell kid of ritual you thinkin’?”

“Some, satanic ritual?” she shrugged.

Holder looked skeptical, “I dunno Linden, it ain’t like we found any pentagrams or nothin’.”

Sarah turned to him, her arms flopping to her sides frustrated, “Well do you have any ideas?”

“Alright, alright,” Holder threw his hands up, and pushed his chair away from his desk before walking towards the board, “so let’s say it’s religiously motivated, yeah? BBQ here thieved or somethin’ and when someone asked him to apologize he was like ‘hell no f-u so they killed him for it.’”

“Whatever they stole had to be worth something incredible valuable,” Sarah thought out loud.

“So valuable it’s worth killing over, not that killin’ is ya know ever acceptable. There also may be more victims,” at the look Sarah shot him Holder shrugged, "three people were crucified Linden.”

“The impenitent thief, Jesus and...?”

“Opposite of impenitent, penitent thief.”

Sarah nodded slowly and gave a slight tilt of her head, “Meaning they sought forgiveness.”

Holder pointed a finger at her, “Still died though.”

“Well let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.”

After a few silent moments, Holder spoke again, “What about that symbol? The one on the pendant?”

Sarah arched an eyebrow, “You think you can find it?”

Holder grinned mischievously, “I think the internet can be a wonderful place.” 

Using his long lanky legs, Holder walked himself back over to his desk and sat back down in his rolling chair. “How do you wanna search for it?”

She shrugged and blew air out of her lips, “Uh, try two moons and a circle.”

Holder typed on the keyboard, “Oh, damn Linden.”

“What?”

“Spot on,” Holder pointed to his computer screen. Sarah walked up behind him to look, while he explained, “it’s Wiccan. Triple Moon, Triple Goddess.”

“Print that.” Sarah squinted at the image on the computer, “Think you can find any Wiccan shops in the Seattle area?”

Holder mimed cracking his fingers, “Just call me Mr. Microsoft,” he typed again, “got one and—damn,” he leaned forward, “real close to the crime scene, in SoDo.”

“Address?”

“You know how we do Linden,” Holder wrote down the address.

Sarah walked to the coat rack and grabbed her jacket, then went over to the printer and retrieved the paper with the design from the pendent. She folded it up and put it in her pocket then gestured to Holder, “C’mon, let’s go.”

Holder looked indignant, “Yo, we just got back!”

“You want to sit here waiting for the coroner to call us down and yell at you some more?”

Holder opened his mouth to respond then promptly shut it, “I’m driving.”

“No you’re not,” Sarah pulled something from her pocket and held it up shaking it, “I got the keys,” she smirked.

“Oh I see how it is,” said Holder.

“Close the door behind you,” Sarah called as she turned and left the room.

“Imma get you back Linden!” Holder ran to the doorway and stuck his head out, a rookie walked by his eyes wide and slightly fearful. Holder lifted his chin, “‘Sup.”

——

SoDo was short for south of downtown, in Seattle. While mainly known for housing the sports attractions in the city, SoDo was also home to some studios, galleries, and other independently owned businesses—like a Wiccan shop.

Raven’s Oddities was a small shop tucked away in between a bookstore and sex shop, the detectives pulled up onto the street and parked by the curb.

“Ooh Linden, we here for the fun stuff?” Holder eyed the sex shop and looked over at Sarah, his eyebrows waggling suggestively.

“Keep it in your pants Holder,” Sarah climbed out of the car smirking, leaving him dumbfounded.

“Damn, woman chill!” Holder called after her as he scrambled to join her. He didn’t need to go far, she had stopped outside of the storefront on the side walk. Holder walked up to her and put his hands in his pockets, “You’re really pissed about that fire thing from this morning aren’t ya?”

Sarah didn’t answer him, looking up at the maroon awning outside of the shop, “Holder...” she spoke quietly with all pretense of joking gone, “look.” Sarah pulled out the paper from her jacket pocket, Holder looked down at it then looked back at the awning: the image on the paper was the same as the design on the storefront sign.

“Guess we’re in the right place.”

Linden gave a curt nod, “Let’s go.” Without further ado, they walked into the shop.

As they opened the door a soft tinkle from a bell could be heard throughout the space, the detectives couldn’t see anyone in sight. The inside of Raven’s Oddities was cramped, and the inventory did nothing to help with the clutter inside. Throughout the middle of the store were displays of various candles and statues, and hanging from the ceiling were different types of greenery and plants. The left wall was lined with shelves stacked from the floor to the ceiling with books the entire length of the store. Most of the right wall had the same dark wooden shelves filled the same way, except instead of books there were glass jars filled with various ingredients and a small section of the right wall to the back of the shop displayed jewelry, cauldrons, and brooms. 

“Anybody home?” Holder called, looking around. Taking a few steps further into the shop he walked straight into a green plant that was hanging from the ceiling, he raised an arm to bat it away.

“Hey!” 

The detectives turned, from the back of the shop came a woman with straight black hair and piercing blue eyes storming up to them. She wore a black lace dress with a black sweater over it, the high top boots she wore put her several several inches above Sarah, but still not as tall as Holder. The black eyeliner around her eyes was thick and precise, and exaggerated the glare she sent Holder, “Be careful with that! You break it, you buy it!”

“Yo that’s, ya know...” Sarah looked back at Holder as he struggled to respond, and sheepishly reached up to rub the back of his head, “my bad.”

Sarah took out her badge and Holder did the same, “I’m Detective Linden,” she said holding the badge flat out as the woman drew closer to inspect it, “this is my partner Detective Holder, we were wondering if we could ask you a few questions?”

The woman looked startled, “What’s this about?” she said crossing her arms, a hand fiddling with her necklace.

Linden gave her a small smile putting her badge back in her pocket, “What’s your name?”

The woman straightened herself, to make herself seem taller, perhaps more regal based on how her face had also morphed to express superiority, “Scryer Raven.”

Linden raised her eyebrows, “Raven’s Oddities?”

Scryer nodded, “That’s right, I opened this shop about 8-years ago now. I’m very proud to say it’s been quite the success.”

“Yeah,” Holder said rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet, his head sweeping the store, “business does seem to be booming.” Scryer didn’t react, she merely gazed at him as though thinking very hard. 

Linden held out the picture of the symbol from the necklace, “We noticed that symbol on the awning above your store. The Triple Moon?”

Scryer looked pleased, “Very close Detective. Wiccans more commonly refer to the symbol as the Triple Goddesses, though Triple Moon is not incorrect.” she said with a tight smile on her face. She pointed to the picture and moved her finger from one moon to the next explaining, “Maiden, mother, and crone.”

“What’s that like, aging?” asked Holder.

“Sort of,” Scryer looked up at him, “it’s the three phases of a woman’s life in which she is, or is not able to reproduce.”

“Do you sell any jewelry with this symbol on it?” asked Sarah.

“Um, sometimes...” Scryer thought for a moment before she turned and headed to the back of the store near the cauldrons and brooms. As she walked, she talked over her shoulder to the detectives following her, “Jewelry sells fast here, I’m always having to order in more. I think I sold my last Three Goddess pendant recently, like in the past week.”

“Do you got any receipts we can look at?” asked Holder. Scryer blushed and Holder’s chin tilted down, “What is it?”

“Our machine has been down for a few weeks. We’ve been cash only, no exchanges or refunds ever since.”

“What ‘bout surveillance?”

Scryer shook her head, “I’m a small business, I only have one other employee. It’s all I can afford.”

Holder snorted, “I thought business was booming.”

Linden shut her eyes, waiting for the inevitable rebuttal but it never came. Scryer just stared at Holder with an intriguing look, “You of all people should know how high rent is in Seattle, Detective. Even with a dingy little apartment such as yours.”

He huffed, “Am I supposed to be impressed by that?”

Scryer shrugged, “Maybe.”

Annoyed now, Holder flapped his arms to his side. “Everybody’s got a dingy little apartment in this city.”

Scryer’s face split into a sly smile, “Do you know what “Scryer” means Detective?”

Holder shifted and crossed his arms, “Ya know I don’t, but I’m pretty sure you’re about to tell me.”

“One who divines...sees...”

“Can we get back to why we’re here?” Linden snapped interrupting their side conversation. Scryer turned to her not amused anymore, not that the detective cared as she gave the store owner her signature scowl and asked, “Is there any chance you remember who bought the pendant?”

Scryer shook her head and replied flatly, “Sorry, no.” 

Resigned, Sarah nodded and handed her a card, “Please call me if you remember anything else.” With that she turned on her heel and left the store with Holder right behind her.

As soon as they were outside Sarah took out a cigarette and lit it, putting the lighter back into her pocket with the smoke in between her lips, she inhaled slowly enjoying the rush of nicotine. Holder took out a smoke of his own and lit it as well. He stood there for a moment, looking at his partner. “You gonna yell at me now or later?” he waved an around his arm holding the cigarette, “‘cause y’know I can take it either way, I’d just like to know when it’s gonna happen.”

Sarah blew out another puff of smoke, “I’m not gonna yell at you Holder.”

Holder’s cigarette froze halfway to his lips, he was flabbergasted his eyebrows contracted, “O-kay... I feel like that’s almost worst.”

Her eyes met his and she spoke cooly, “You know what you did wrong. If there are consequences you’ll have to deal with them. Simple as that.” Sarah walked over to the car and unlocked it with the fob before getting in.

Holder threw back his head and groaned, slinking over to the car, “I can’t believe you just a pulled a—” he imitated a high pitched voice, “I’m not angry I’m just disappointed,” then going back back to his normal voice, “—reprimand at me. That’s cold Linden.”

Sarah grinned inhaling on her cig, “Worked though didn’t it?”

Holder sucked his teeth, “...yeah.”

She waggled her eyes brows and nodded, “Mom superpower.”

Holder looked over to her and couldn’t stop the grin that spread on his face at that. Sarah turned the key in the ignition, and pulled away from the curb, driving until Raven’s Oddities became a speck in the rear view mirror.

——

Back at the station, the only thing the detectives had to show for their day’s work was a drawing of the Three Goddesses symbol along with it’s meaning, under the words “PENDANT” written on the board. They sat in their respective seats behind their desks staring at the whiteboard, Holder tossing the small black basketball he kept inside of his desk, from hand to hand.

“I mean, at least with Rosie we didn’t have to wait for nothin’, we had so much to work with. I mean yeah it was hell trying to sort through it all because I mean—” he huffed, “that was a friggin’ lot. But still, we can’t even let nobody know this guy’s dead. What if someone’s out there looking for ‘em?”

“Hopefully the coroner will have something for us tomorrow,” said Linden, “but until then that’s all we can do.” She shook her head and checked her watch, “I think that’s all we’re gonna get done for today.”

Holder did an exaggerated sigh and stood up, only to realize Linden hadn’t moved, “Yo Linden, you good?”

She looked up at him, “I still don’t have a place to live. I kind of forgot about that, up until this very moment.”

He shrugged, “So you keep crashing at my dojo, it’s all good.”

“I can’t keep doing that to you Holder.”

“C’mon you ain’t doing nothing to me,” he sounded slightly exasperated, “we’re BFFs, it’s what we do.” 

Holder grabbed her jacket and tossed it at her, “You gotta to learn to let people help you woman.” 

He picked up his own jacket and swung it on, “Whatcha wanna eat tonight?” Then he raised a pointed finger, “And don’t say you’re not hungry, because I will smite you.”

She smirked pulling on her jacket, “Smite me?”

“I said what I said. C’mon, leggo.”

Holder stood in the doorway and waited for Linden to pass him. Then he turned off the lights in the office and closed the door.


	2. Day 2

November 4, 2012  
Day 2

Sarah’s bed was buzzing. Wait, no... that wasn’t right. Beds didn’t buzz, and she wasn’t in bed. Technically she didn’t even have a bed. Also she had crashed on Holder’s couch, so the couch was buzzing.

Her phone.

Sarah sat up, the afghan blanket Holder had given to her on her first night she had stayed with him slipped down from her torso and pooled in her lap. Reaching underneath the pillow her head had been resting on, she grabbed her phone. Squinting as the light shined from the screen when she opened it she put the device to her ear and spoke in a voice still groggy with sleep, “Linden here.”

“Seattle Coroner’s Office calling to tell you that the autopsy is finished on your victim and the coroner will see you today.”

“Great um...” Sarah flailed around for a moment ungracefully, looking for her watch on the coffee table. Giving up she pulled the phone away to check the time before pressing it back to her ear, “We’ll be there in 1 hour, maybe less.” 

The coroner’s office hung up and Sarah closed her phone and stood up, stretched, and yawned a little as she folded up the blanket and left it neatly on top of the pillow. Then she headed down the hall to Holder’s bedroom and knocked on his door, “Holder?” No response. She opened the door a crack, “Holder?” 

Holder was splayed out in his bed, his mouth was slightly agape, and he snored softly but didn’t stir when the door opened. So Sarah padded across the hardwood floor to the side of his bed tapped him on the shoulder, “Holder.”

He jerked awake and looked up his head rising from the pillow, “The hell, Linden?”  
“Coroner is ready for us. We gotta go.”

Holder slammed his head back down onto his pillow and put his arm over his eyes, “Ten more minutes?”

“I’m leaving in five.”

Holder shot up, his eyes narrowed, “For real?”

Sarah’s eyebrows raised as a warning and she walked out of the room, leaving Holder grumbling as he got out of bed.

——

Sarah pulled the car into the parking lot of the precinct, Holder dozing against the window. When the car lurched to a stop he lifted his head, his eyes hazy, and turned to look at Linden.

“We here?”

Sarah undid her seatbelt and opened the door, “C’mon let’s go.”

She got out of the car and headed towards the front entrance, Holder coming up behind her. The morgue was located in the basement of the precinct, making it easily accessible to the detectives and officers who needed the access for cases. Sarah and Holder headed straight downstairs to the morgue, and went right into the autopsy theater.

Their victim was laid out on the metal slab, the red and black burned skin a vast contrast to victims Sarah had seen before. Upon hearing the door open, the coroner had turned around, and when her eyes fell on Holder she glared. He raised a hand and waved at her, putting it down when Sarah shot him a reprimanding look. 

The detectives walked to the head of the slab, “What do you have for us?” asked Sarah.

The coroner tore her eyes away from Holder and looked at her, “Quite a bit actually. The victim is male, estimated age range is 18-24, and he is of Asian descent. I put time of death around yesterday morning, 1 a.m.- 4 a.m.”

“How can you tell he’s Asian?” asked Holder bewildered, “Ma’am?” He spat out the title at the scathing look the coroner gave him.

“The skull,” she said, and then pointed towards the holes where the eyes used to be, “human skulls are unique depending on race. Skulls from Asian descent have circular eye sockets, and a heart shaped nasal aperture. Those characteristics are present on your vic.”

“Do we have an I.D.?” asked Linden looking down at the body.

“Not yet, DNA still has to be run. But we might have something else.”

Sarah’s head snapped up, “What’s that?”

The coroner went to the victim’s neck and pointed, “Take a look here.” Sarah and Holder leaned in closely, looking at the burned scarred flesh. Faintly in faded black ink was a design of the letters “SG” in a block font that was interwoven.

“I don’t understand,” said Sarah looking up at the coroner.

“Oh shit,” Holder said at the exact same time.

Sarah turned to him, “What is it?”

Holder stood up and rubbed his jaw his eyes still on the remains of the tattoo, “He’s a Ghoul.”

Perplexed, Sarah shook her head, “What?”

“The Street Ghouls, Linden. It’s a gang.” She turned back to the victim as Holder added, “They don’t play around neither.”

Sarah stared at the remains of the tattoo, “Who does?”

He titled his head, “Touché.”

She sighed and stood up, “Alright. Anything else?”

The coroner shook her head, “Nothing further at the moment. I’ll call if anything else comes up.”

Linden nodded, “Great, thanks.” She and Holder turned and headed out of the theater. In the hallway they stopped, and turned to face each other. “What do you know about the Street Ghouls?”

Holder crossed his arms and looked down briefly, “We crossed paths with them once or twice in narcotics. They deal in mainly in drugs, but they also do guns...”

“What about murder?”

Holder shrugged, “I mean yeah probably. But they don’t get caught. I mean, they’re good Linden. Real good. But I don’t know too much about ‘em.”

“Well you know more then me.” Linden said quietly. She shifted from foot to foot, “Do you know where they’re based?”

Holder stared at her like she had gone insane, “You sure you want to do that Linden? Gangs are like... a whole other world.”

“What choice do we have Holder? If the victim was a member of the Ghouls we’re gonna have to address it sooner or later. C’mon. Let’s go.” She headed towards the hall leading back upstairs.

“Fuck I’m gonna regret this.”

——

Holder insisted on driving, so Sarah sat in the passengers seat as he drove southeast to the International District, a center for Asian-American communities in Seattle. The street he parked on was lined on one side with low-income housing down the block, the other side of the street was a laundromat, a cultural market, and a Chinese restaurant. An elderly man sat on his porch blaring loud rap music from a large boom box, his eyes were glued to the detectives the moment they got out of the car.

“This block is a popular hang out for the Ghouls,” said Holder gesturing up and down the street, “I had a sting here my first year at county.”

“Oh yeah?” Linden looked around, a young boy was kicking a ball against a brick wall that was probably once a fence of some kind, “Anything come of it?”

“Nope,” Holder popped the ‘p’ in the word, “nothin’. They’re good at what they do.”

She nodded and pursed her lips, “So where do we go?”

Holder did a salute that turned into a point to the laundromat, and the detectives made their way across the street. The red lettering on the door of the laundromat read, “Ling’s Laundromat” with a Mandarin translation underneath. Inside there were three rows of washers and dryers, though none of them were in use. Three young Asian men stood together in the back of the room in front of a closed door that read, “Employees Only” and had another line of Mandarin translation underneath.

“See the ink?” Holder asked her quietly. Looking closely she could see the young men all had the same ‘SG’ tattooed on their necks. She nodded.

Seattle had always had a plethora of gang activity, that wasn’t news to anyone. S.P.D. had been working around the clock for years to try and crack down on, or at the very least control, gang related crime in King County. Sarah had only had a handful of run-ins when she had worked patrol, and none of them were too memorable. She knew that wasn’t the norm though, and most patrols dealt with a hell of a lot more with the gangs. The amount of gang crime would always fluctuate, especially when it was crimes between the rival gangs. Gang wars were not uncommon.

“Alright,” she said. “C’mon.”

The detectives each grabbed their badges and headed towards the back of the laundromat. The young men looked up, glaring at the cops.

One of them stepped forward, he had trimmed facial hair and a buzzed haircut. He wore black baggy jeans and a black wife-beater underneath a bomber jacket not too unlike the one Holder wore, “What you want pigs?”

Sarah spoke calmly and cool, putting her badge back on her belt once she sure he had seen it, “I’m Detective Linden, with S.P.D. I work homicide.”

“That right dawg?” The same man said condescendingly, his fellows laughing.

She blinked slowly, “We discovered a murder victim yesterday,” she said “he has the same tattoo on his neck that you do.”

The smiles dropped from the men’s faces, they exchanged glances with one another before looking back at the detectives.

“Anytime boys,” said Holder with a smug shrug.

The man who had spoken turned and knocked on the closed “Employees” door. A few moments later it opened just a crack, and a hushed conversation in Mandarin took place, before the door shut again. A few moments passed of the detectives standing there, waiting, the young men watched them in silence, their prior bravado had dissipated. Finally, the door opened back up and out came a much taller, older, fit man. Standing beside him was a scrawny kid, who couldn’t have been more than 15-years-old.

The tall man stepped forward, “Detectives,” he spoke smoothly and smiled nastily. “my friends tell me you have some news you’d like to share with me.”

“We caught a body yesterday,” said Holder not beating around the bush, “had the Street Ghouls tat on his neck. Wonderin’ if you’re missing any brothas, brotha.”

The man’s smile tightened, “How did he die?”

“We’re not at liberty to say.” Sarah cut in, as she spoke the man’s eyes flicked to her.

“That right?” He said nodding.

Holder lifted his chin and crossed his arms, “What’s your name son?”

The man stared at him for a moment, tension forming between the two men, “Am I required to answer?”

Holder shrugged, “We’re here to help you.” He said, “Don’t ya wanna know who killed ya boy?”

The man squinted at Holder, the two of them were almost the same height. Instantaneously, he stood a few steps towards Holder and both of the detective’s hands instantly went to their holsters that hung on their belts.

“Easy...” said Sarah, cool and calm once again.

The man raised his hands, palms up and out. “Don’t mean nothing by it,” he smiled almost condescendingly, “name’s Thor.”

Linden raised an eyebrow, but before she could comment Holder beat her to the punch, “You a god of lightning?”

Thor shrugged and spoke smoothly, “If you like.” 

Growing tired of the charade and being played with, Holder decided to cut to the chase, “Are one of your guys missing or what?” 

“IceBox didn’t report for work today.”

The detectives spoke at the same time for the second time that day, Holder said “IceBox?”

“Work?” said Sarah, “You run the laundromat?”

The man smiled at Linden, “Indeed we do. Now, we’ve given you his name, and we hope that to the best of your ability,” he spoke sarcastically when he said this, “you will find those responsible. We now kindly ask, that you leave our establishment, and leave us alone.” He stepped close enough to be almost nose to nose with Sarah. “Lightning shouldn’t strike twice in the same spot.” When the detectives didn’t move immediately, he made a shooing motion with his hands.

“C’mon Linden,” Holder held out an arm for her to pass him. 

Sarah’s eyes darted to the scrawny kid, he hadn’t looked at her or Holder throughout the entire interaction. She started to head towards the exit but kept her eyes on Thor until the last possible moment at which point she was fully turned around and walking back out the door.

“Well that was interesting.” Sarah said when she and Holder were back on the street and walking to the car, she took out a cigarette and lit it.

“That’s one way of puttin’ it.” said Holder, doing the same thing. He got to the door but she hadn’t unlocked it, “Yo, What gives?” He looked up at her, her cig was halfway to her lips frozen, she was looking back at the laundromat, “I don’t like the look on ya face Linden, it’s making me nervous.”

Sarah turned to look at him, “Really?” she said. “We just went into the territory of a homicidal gang and my face is what makes you nervous?”

Holder smirked, “It’s a powerful face Linden. Men have cowered before it.”

She took a drag from her smoke before blowing it back out, “Men like you?”

He stuck his cig in his mouth and swatted an arm, “Nah, I’m strong.”

“Uh-huh,” she smirked and then opened the car. Both of them climbed in, but she had frozen again and didn’t put the key in the ignition.

Holder looked over at her again, “Okay seriously, you need me to drive?”

“Maybe we should talk to some of the neighbors, or businesses around here, ask them about IceBox or the gang.”

“Woah no! You crazy Linden?!”

Sarah looked to Holder who’s face looked stricken, “What?”

“No one’ll talk to us, and if Thor or any of his goons see us trying to talk to them, they’ll go after ‘em.” Sarah pursed her lips, then put her hand with her cig to her mouth and bit her thumb. Holder tilted his head, trying to get a read on her face, “Whatcha thinking?”

“That this murder didn’t look like a gang hit. Or, none I’ve ever heard of,” she stared at the laundromat, “a gang with religious motives? Wiccan or Christian? Just...”

Holder took a long hit off of the smoke, “Yeah, this case is already proving to be quite the melting pot.”

Her hand went to her lap and she looked at him, “What?”

“You know, the melting pot,” he moved his hands in a circular motion, “The Great American Melting Pot? What, you never watched School House Rock?” Sarah turned to the front and shook her head trying to hide the grin on her face. She started the engine, opened up the door and ran the cig on the ground before closing the door and driving away. “That show changed lives Linden.”

——

Inside the laundromat, Thor turned to the three other men any guise of politeness had disappeared. The expression on his face was intense, and he spoke in Mandarin, “Find our what else they know. Call Britches, I wanna know why we didn’t know first.”


	3. Day 2 (continued)

Sarah and Holder walked back into S.P.D. with the intention of going straight to their office, but the moment they walked through the precinct doors a loud familiar bark echoed down the hall,

“Linden! Holder!” Carlson stood in the doorway of his office, hands on his hips, and a dark expression on his face. When the two detectives turned to him he said, “My office, now.”

Holder turned to Sarah bewildered and spoke in a harsh whisper, verging on desperation, “We’ve only been investigating for a day, what the fuck did we do?!” 

Sarah pursed her lips, clearly unhappy, “Only one way find out.”

She headed down to Carlson’s office, Holder stood there in the hall for a moment frozen, before following her.

“Close the door Holder.” said the lieutenant when the detective joined his partner in the office. 

Carlson sat behind his desk, his elbows on its wooden surface with his hands clasped together. Three stiff brown seats sat opposite of him, but only two of them were empty, the chair in the middle was occupied but Sarah and Holder could only see the back of the person’s bald head, they didn’t know who he was.

“Detectives Linden, Holder,” started Carlson, “this is Detective O’Leary, from the Gang Unit.”

The bald man, O’Leary, stood up at his introduction. He wore a brown suit and black tie and had small blue eyes and a neat mustache to contrast his shiny bald head. O’Leary nodded to the homicide detectives, “Linden, Holder.”

“O’Leary here tells me that you’ve been investigating a gang that his unit keeps tabs on,” Carlson continued, “nearly compromising an undergoing operation.” Sarah shut her eyes and had to fight to keep her head up and not stoop to her chest. Holder scratched the back of his neck to hide his discomfort.

Carlson continues, “Now I told him that there was no way that was possible. Because my detectives,” his palms went flat to his chest, “would know that inter-department cooperation is of the utmost importance.” The lieutenant’s hands thudded back to down to his desk, “So, now we’re all here, why don’t we clear things up. Have a seat.”

Almost reluctantly, Linden and Holder took the seats on either side of O’Leary who had sat back down. Carlson waited expectantly, the situation was all too familiar with being called down to the principals office, and Sarah found it ridiculous.

Sarah began to speak, “We have reason to believe our murder victim was a member of the Ghouls.”

“Street Ghouls,” Holder cut in, “just ya know... the proper name or—know what it’s not important I’ll stop.” He caught Sarah glaring at him, her gaze penetrating straight through the gang cop in between them.

She continued, “So we did our job, and we went to investigate. Holder knew where the Street Ghouls were active and we went to Ling’s Laundromat, and talked with some of the gang members.”

“And at no point, did it occur to you to share that information?” Carlson cut in.  
Sarah clenched her jaw, “No sir.”

Her lieutenant nodded, “Well Detective O’Leary, on behalf of my ignorant detectives please let me be the one to offer my deepest apologies,” Holder opened his mouth to say something, but then he thought better of it and snapped it shut. Carlson turned to Linden, “Detective Linden?”

“Won’t happen again,” she barely kept the growl out of her voice.

Carlson nodded, “You’re dismissed.”

Sarah didn’t hesitate, she stood up and went out of the office door fighting the urge the slam it behind her, and went straight to their office, not knowing or caring if Holder was following. 

Once she reached their office, she sat down in the chair behind her desk and pressed the palms of her hands into her eyes.

“Detective Linden?”

Her snapped her hands down, O’Leary stood a few feet away, she hadn’t even heard him following her.

“What can I do for you Detective O’Leary?”

Holder skulked in and sat down in his chair opposite of Sarah. O’Leary cleared his throat, “The Street Ghouls are ruthless, they’re not afraid to do whatever they want to get their way.”

“Hm,” her eyebrows rose sardonically, “yes I did get that impression.”

“You familiar with the members?” asked Holder.

O’Leary looked hesitant, “It depends.”

“You know one called IceBox?” O’Leary stiffened and nodded, Holder waited and when the gang cop didn’t say anything else he pressed for more, “Well?”

O’Leary cleared his throat, “His real name is Tung Chen, in proper Chinese though it’s Chen Tung. He’s called “IceBox” because well... he’s one of their hit men.”

Sarah leaned forward, “Hit men?”

O’Leary let out a little sigh and walked to the open door, “May I?” Sarah nodded and he closed the door before walking back a little further into the room, “7 months ago, Tung was our number one suspect in the hit of a young girl. 17-year-old Mary Lietz. Shot and left for dead in an alley a block from Ling’s. We never got enough to nail him though.”

“Do you think he was the only one involved?” Sarah asked.

O’Leary shook his head, “No, with gang hits it’s never just one guy. But Tung was the one who pulled the trigger.”

She processed this new information for a moment, then asked, “What about Thor?”

“He’s the head, the leader. Real name is Chao Liu. He’s also the oldest, likes them to join young, just like he did.” O’Leary shifted uncomfortably, “Look, I only came to report to Carlson because my lieutenant sent me. I didn’t mean for you to—”

“It’s all good.” said Holder cutting him off, “Carlson’s just an ass.”

O’Leary chuckled and looked down scratching his head, “He sure is something.” An awkward silence fell over the three of them. Finally, O’Leary moved towards the door, “I’ll be going then. If you have any questions or, you know,” he gave a curt nod and then he was gone.

The moment he was out of the room Holder looked at Sarah, “I swear, first thing I thought when I saw that guy was that Mr. Clean grew a mustache.”

The corners of her mouth turned up, then the expression fell, “Do you remember or know anything about the Lietz murder?”

Holder thought for a moment before he tilted his head, “I think so, never made the big news though. Word was the kid’s mom may have owed money to the wrong people or somethin’ but I don’t know.”

“What’s her name? The mom?”

“You got a computer right in front of you ya know.” Sarah didn’t move and looked at him waiting, he huffed and smiled, “Always doin’ things for you Linden,” he typed for a few moments then sat back, “mom was, is Diane Lietz. She’s the founder of a local skincare company called AllSkin.”

“Let’s go to talk to her. Maybe she wanted revenge for her daughter’s death.” Sarah said standing up and heading to the door.

Holder stood up and went after her. “Yo can I drive?!”

——

A young Latino man wearing an oversized red shirt and baggy black jeans walked down the street at a brisk pace. He went to a small yellow house and up the small set of stairs to the porch, before swinging open the screen door. A small group of men gathered inside sitting at a rectangular table and smoking some joints.

“Jefe,” the young man said, “We got word that one of them Ghouls got iced.”

The men at the table turned to the guy at the end of the table. Shirtless, ripped with muscles, and with a cross tattooed across his left pec—he stood up smirking. He took the blunt out of his mouth and looked at his companions. In Spanish he said, “Today is a good day boys. Justice is being done.”

——

AllSkin headquarters wasn’t too far from City Hall in downtown Seattle.

“I’m getting the willies just going near this place,” said Holder as he drove by the building.

Sarah arched an eyebrow, “The willies?”

“You heard me,” Holder said, “damn I need a smoke.”

“We’re almost there, don’t waste it.”

They pulled into a parking garage and parked on the 2nd level. The detectives got out of the car and headed to the garage elevator, taking it up to the 11th floor where a bright clean wooden oval desk stood, bearing the AllSkin logo in bright metallic letters. The receptionist spoke into a headset, but as he looked up and saw Linden and Holder pulling out their badges, he took the contraption off of his head, “Can I help you?”

“Seattle Police, we need to speak to Diane Lietz.” said Sarah.

The receptionist dialed the phone desk and held the mic of the headset to his lips, “Molly I have some police here for Diane.” He hung up the receiver, “It’ll be just a few minutes.

A blonde woman with curly hair and wire glasses in front of brown eyes came up to them. She held a clipboard to her chest and wore a blue sweater over a striped blouse and matching blue suede heels, “Hi, I’m Molly Cloud. I’m Ms. Lietz’s assistant. If you’ll follow me?” Molly turned and walked past the receptionist and the detectives followed her, “You came at the perfect time,” she called back to them, “she’s just finished lunch and hasn’t started her second round of meetings.”

The three of them worked their way through a sea of desks. Molly took them to a more wide open space with a tall ceiling, in the middle was a ramp that wound up to an office encased in glass.

“Swanky offices,” said Holder as he looked at the structure.

When Sarah looked up to the office at the top of the ramp, she could see a woman pacing around and speaking into a telephone. The three of them walked up the ramp and came to a small landing with double doors, and a walkway that went around the office. Molly knocked on the door, and the woman inside beckoned them in, the assistant held the door open for the detectives and they stepped inside.

The office gave off the feeling it was much larger than it actually was, due to the glass windows encasing the area. A deep oak desk stood in the middle, on it was a phone, some files, and a picture of Diane and two other people, a man and a young girl that had to be Mary. There was a big chair behind the desk and behind the chair was a bookcase showcasing some of the AllSkin products.

Diane, hung up the phone and turned to the detectives. She was a beautiful Asian woman with flowing black hair and glowing skin. She wore a creme colored blouse and black pencil skirt that showed off her curvy figure. “Hello. I’m Diane Lietz.”

“Ms. Lietz, I’m Detective Linden this is my partner Detective Holder.”

“What can I do for you?”

“Ms. Lietz,” Sarah tried to speak as gently as she could, but she was still get her urgent to get her point across, “we’re currently investigating a homicide and we have reason to believe the victim may be Chen Tung.” The smile vanished from Diane’s face, and Molly shifted uncomfortably. Sarah nodded solemnly, “I see you recognize the name.”

Diane seemed to be struggling with her words for a moment, she walked around her desk and took a seat in her chair, “Yes I, I recognize the name,” the woman looked up at the detectives, “what do you want? I’ve gone over all of this with the other detective, back when it happened. I’m trying to move forward, surely you can understand that?”

The friendly demeanor had vanished. Holder crossed his arms, “Ms. Lietz we needed to ask about your whereabouts yesterday morning.”

“I was here, working. No one saw me, I came into the office early for final preparations on a new advertising campaign.” Diane turned to her her computer and used her mouse to navigate the screen, before turning it towards the detectives. “You can see the time stamp on the file.”

“Do you have security cameras in here?” Sarah asked.

“I’ll have Molly send you the records,” said Diane, “now if that’s all?”  
Sarah nodded recognizing the dismissal, “Thanks for your time, we’ll be in touch.”  
The detectives didn’t speak again until they were back in the elevator, “What do you think?” Asked Linden.  
“I mean,” Holder rubbed his nose and crossed his arms, “I’m thinkin’ we should pull up that girls murder file. Look into some of the facts.” He looked at Linden, but she wasn’t looking at him, she was looking straight ahead. Holder looked back up, “I mean why was she killed? Initiation? Random? Drive by? Prostitution? Exotic Animal Smuggling?” He knew that would get her attention, and sure enough when he looked back down she was looking up at him with a bewildered expression and he shrugged, “I mean anything is possible, ya know?” Slowly, without saying anything, Sarah looked away again. Holder waited a few moments, then he said, “That was a joke Linden.”  
The elevator doors opened and she walked out, “I know Holder, it just wasn’t a good one.”  
——  
Holder and Linden drove away out of the parking garage and down the street. A car parked on the curb followed them, all the way back to S.P.D., the driver watched as the detectives headed into the precinct, when their phone buzzed in the cup holder of the car. The driver looked down and grabbed the phone, a saw a new text message that read, “update?”. The driver looked up to the precinct for a moment, then looked back down and started typing something back.  
——  
Holder was waiting in their office, updating the details on the white board while Sarah headed to the gang unit.  
The gang unit wing of the precinct looked just about the same if not a bit smaller than homicide’s. When she went to the bullpen, the various detectives sitting at the small clusters of desks looked up gaping at her, not saying a word. Not one to be deterred, Sarah didn’t hesitate, “I’m looking for O’Leary?”  
“Linden?”  
She turned, O’Leary had come up from behind her in the hall, “Hey,” she said completely ignoring the stares of the other cops who were now even more intrigued, “is there someplace we can talk?”  
Taken aback the man looked around for a moment, “Yeah, just over here,” he led her over to a small office in the corner, “my L.T. is out to lunch. What can I do for you?”  
Sarah didn’t beat around the bush, “I need a look at the Lietz file.”  
O’Leary shut the door promptly, then he walked back in front of her and put his hands on his hips, “May I ask why?”  
“For our investigation. Diane Lietz knew the name of our vic when we mentioned him, but she was dismissive. We have to look into the motives behind Mary’s murder.” O’Leary looked unnerved, using his thumb and forefinger he pinched the bridge of his nose and looked down. Frustrated, Sarah put her palms flat out in front of her, “So where is it?”  
He lowered his hand and looked away, “Gone.”  
She blinked, “Gone?” he nodded and her eyes narrowed, “Gone where?”  
“About, a month after the murder... it went missing. My partner, he was brand new—it was a stupid mistake and I covered for him, you know how rookies are.” He looked at her knowingly.  
Sarah tightened her jaw, and thought of what Holder had pulled just a few weeks ago, “What happened?”  
“The guy left it unattended, in the car to—to take a leak. He came back and the windows were smashed in and it was gone.”  
“That’s why the investigation stopped isn’t it?” Sarah’s voice was harsh but quiet.  
His jaw clenched, his tongue ran over his teeth, “I know that case like the back of my hand. I can help you.”  
She scowled at him, “What did you suspect was the motive?”  
O’Leary crossed his arms, “We think the girl might have had a drug problem.”  
“Did you ask the mom?”  
“Of course we did, minute we brought it up though, she clammed up, said we were wrong, and that her daughter didn’t do drugs.”  
Sarah shook her head, “That doesn’t mean anything though.”  
A few moments passed in silence, neither of the detectives made to leave the room. Sarah’s gaze had become unfocused as her mind was raced, thinking, and O’Leary stared at her anxiously.  
Finally he sighed, “Look, the Street Ghouls, they're big rivals with the Loco Rojos. Might want to check it out.”  
Her gaze snapped to him, “Loco Rojos?”  
O’Leary nodded, “A Latino gang, they’ve been rivals with the Ghouls for years.”  
Linden’s nostrils flared as she exhaled and looked away from O’Leary.  
——  
Molly walked up the ramp to her boss’ office, she looked through the double doors to see Diane sitting behind her desk looking down at a file. Gently, Molly knocked on the glass and opened the door, “Miss Lietz?”  
Diane looked up, her eyes red and face puffy, “Yes, Molly?”  
Molly gave her a kind understanding smile, “I just finished work for the day. Did you need anything before I leave?”  
“No.” Diane shook her head sharply, “No Molly, thanks for your hard work today. I’ll see you tomorrow.”  
Molly stood there for a moment, “Are you all right?”  
Diane smiled tearily, “Your very kind Molly,” she said gratefully. “I’ll be all right, thank-you. See you tomorrow.”  
Molly nodded and left.  
——  
Sarah walked back into the office, Holder sat at his desk on his cellphone, “Where were you? I was just about to call, that took forever. What, O’Leary ask you out?”  
She ignored him and went to the white board, she took the marker beginning to write.  
——  
The young Street Ghouls gang member who had stood with Chao at Ling’s Laundromat, now stood at a bathroom sink. Slowly he lifted the shoulder sleeve of his shirt to reveal a white bandage wrapped around his arm. Blood seeped through the bandage, the red a stark contrast to the white. A sharp knock at the door made him jump.  
“Yo Baby Shanks, you comin’?”  
The young man shook his head, “Nah. You go.”  
The voice on the other side of the door was another gang member. At Baby Shanks’ dismissal he walked outside of Ling’s Laundry and headed down the street his eyes glued down to his phone. A car followed him from a safe distance.  
——  
The Loco Rojos guys sat around the house; some of them watched a boxing match while others played a card game. The house was think with joint smoke, and the noise was raucous. Isidro “Jefe” Zepeta stood amongst them leaning against the doorway of the living area, a satisfied smile on his face.  
——  
Diane was about to leave the office, everyone else had gone home. As she went to grab the files on her desk, her eye caught the framed picture of her once happy family. She picked it up, and looked at her daughter’s smiling, happy face.  
——  
Sarah stepped back to take a look at what they had accumulated thus far, along with the new information. In addition to what Holder had written, a part of the board now read “LOCO ROJOS” with a bullet underneath: “gang war?”. Sarah turned to look at Holder, he looked at what she had written and blew out a breath shaking his head. “Damn.”


	4. Day 3

November 5, 2012  
Day 3

After the discovery of another gang’s possible involvement in the case, Holder had “put his foot down” and called it a night and, surprisingly, Sarah had yielded.

  
The next morning, events were eerily similar to the previous day’s. Sarah woke up on Holder’s couch to her phone going off from a call from the coroner. She let Holder drive to the precinct, and sat in the passenger seat thinking about how she really wished she had a cigarette.

  
Detectives Linden and Holder stepped into the autopsy theater for the second day in a row. The coroner sat at her computer, alone this time with no assistant in sight, when Sarah and Holder walked into the theater she turned to the detectives and picked up a file that sat next to her keyboard, “I have a confirmed I.D.”

  
Sarah took the file and opened it, “We got a match Holder.”

  
“Yeah?” He peered over her shoulder to look at the contents of the file.

_DNA Sample : Match Found : I.D. confirmed to one Tung Chen : Known Aliases : Chen Tung : “IceBox”_

“His DNA was in the system,” the coroner explained.

  
Holder nodded, “Not convicted for anything though,” his reached over Sarah’s shoulder and he moved his finger down the paper, “some thievery, assault... but no murder charge?”

  
Sarah closed the file and Holder snapped his arm back to his side, “Maybe O’Leary never charged him. He said they couldn’t prove it,” she looked up to the coroner, “thanks.” Then she turned and left the theater.

  
Walking back upstairs to the precinct, the detectives walked side by side, “Let’s head over to Tung’s address. See if we can find anything useful.”

  
“You got it boss.” Holder smirked taking out the keys from his jacket pocket and tossing them up before catching them. After he did this a few times, Sarah snatched the keys from midair, “Hey!”

  
“You drive too slow Holder.”

  
He scoffed, “Maybe you just drive like a crazy person. Ever think of that?”

  
——

  
Tung Chen’s address was listed as a house that was located a few blocks down from Ling’s Laundromat in the International District. Sarah parked directly in front of the house, and got out of the car with Holder. Looking up she saw the house had peeling pale blue paint and was surrounded by a chain link fence with a considerably spacious front yard that was covered in weeds, overgrown grass, and a sidewalk that led up to a small porch. The front door was behind a torn screen door that looked as though it had seen better days.  
Sarah got to the door first and waited until she heard Holder right behind her before she knocked, but nobody came to the door.

  
“Nobody’s home?” Holder guessed, but Sarah didn’t buy that.

  
She knocked again, then tried to turn the door handle with no luck, “Damn.”

  
“Think he lived here by himself?”

  
“I’m not sure, do gangsters usually live alone?” She knocked one more time.  
Holder raised an eyebrow, “Was that a rhetorical question? ‘Cause I can’t tell whether or not you want me to answer that.”  
The door behind the screen door opened and Sarah recognized the occupant, it was the young man from Ling’s. He didn’t say anything, instead he just stared at the detectives. Both of them unclipped their shields and showed them to him, though she was sure he recognized them.

  
“We’re with Seattle P.D. we have this address listed to one Tung Chen?” Sarah said.

  
The young man nodded, “Yeah.”

  
When didn’t say anything else she pressed further, “Can we come in?”

  
The young man swung the door open all the way, and Sarah stepped over the threshold with Holder on her heels. She kept her head on a swivel, to take a look around: the interior wasn’t very bright, and the surroundings were dark, the detectives walked down a small hallway to a living area with a television and a couch that looked extremely beat up. A back door led out to a small porch, and Sarah could see a smoking ashtray on the ledge. There was a hallway to the left that led to the rest of the house, and a kitchen to the right. Sarah walked towards the kitchen and saw the counters were littered with empty beer bottles and soda cans.

  
The young man stood in front of the tv in the living room, his hands were tucked into his pants and his face neutral.

  
“What’s your name son?” asked Holder.

  
“Li.”

  
After a moment Holder huffed and rubbed his nose before crossing his arms, “Ya got a last name?”

  
“Zhang.”

  
Holder nodded, “All right then, progress! Tell me Li, did any of Tung’s family live here?”  
Li shook his head, “He don’t got no family.”  
“How long have you lived with him?” asked Sarah looking over at him from the kitchen.  
He shrugged, “Like, a year.”

  
She stared closely at his face, “You two good friends?”

  
“I mean I guess.”

  
She walked over to him, “Well then I’m sorry for your loss. We confirmed the I.D. of our victim, the one we mentioned to your buddy Thor at the laundromat? It’s your friend Tung.” The kid didn’t have any change in expression, he merely nodded. Sarah waited a moment before she spoke again, “You don’t seem surprised.”

  
“You told us about it already.”

  
Her mouth flattened in acknowledgment and she nodded once, “Can we see his bedroom?”  
Li turned and led them down the hall stopping at the first door on the right. Holder and Sarah each pulled out a pair of gloves, and went inside while Li stood in the doorway. Tung’s bedroom wasn’t messy per day, but it also wasn’t very neat. The walls were covered with posters of bikini clad girls modeling with different types of fancy sports cars, an unmade queen sized bed with black linens was up against the wall next to a wardrobe with clothes hanging out of the drawers, and a small closet was on the left.

  
Sarah headed to the closet while Holder went to the wardrobe, “When was the last time you saw him?” she asked Li without looking at him, “Tung?”

  
“Um, maybe like, four days ago?” Sarah looked over at Li, he was rubbing his upper arm but when he saw her staring he stopped and continued to speak, “He said he had to go out and do somethin’.”

  
“You don’t know what it was?”

  
Li shook his head, and Sarah went back to the closet. The small space wasn’t very full except for a few different pairs of sneakers, she picked up each pair and made sure nothing was inside.

  
“Yo Linden,” she turned, Holder was staring at something he had found in the wardrobe. A quick glance over to Li told her he had seen it too, and it had made the kid nervous. Sarah walked over to Holder to look at what he was holding and felt her eyebrows rise.

  
It was a picture of Tung and Mary, smiling happily together.

  
“You know this girl?” Holder turned to Li who shook his head, “Really? ‘Cause your roommate is awfully cozy with her here, and she’s dead too.”

  
Li got defensive, “I don’t know nothin’ about it.”

  
The kid had to know the detectives didn’t buy it, but Sarah could tell he wasn’t budging. She and Holder took thirty more minutes to go over the bedroom and living areas before they went to head out. Before they left Holder turned to Li and handed him a card, “Just in case anything jogs your memory kid. Gimme a call.” Li reached out for the card, his fingers closed on the paper but Holder hadn’t let go yet. He looked the kid straight in the eye, “We can help you.” Then Holder let go and the detectives left the house.

  
Sarah and Holder went to the car and got in their respective seats, Holder looked over at Sarah and jerked his head up, “So what ya think? Romeo and Juliet modern day story?”

  
“That ends with someone being burned alive?” Sarah was skeptical.

  
He sighed, “Yeah I know. My brain is feelin’ like it’s gonna explode Linden.”

  
“How so?”

  
Holder talked animatedly with his hands, “You got the Christianity motive here, the Wicca motive there, we got the one gang, the Lietz murder from seven months ago, then the second gang, oh and now apparently our boy was dating the girl who got iced BY HIM?”

  
“So, there’s also a domestic motive now yeah.” Sarah nodded, “That just about sums it up. Good job Holder.”

  
He squinted at her, but the corners of his mouth had turned up, “Why is it you only get funny at my expense?”

  
“You make it so easy.” she smirked and started the car, “Let’s head back to AllSkin. Speak to Diane, see if she knew anything about Mary’s relationship with Tung.”

  
“Yeah ‘cause she was so forthcoming the last time we had a chat with her.”

  
——

  
A Street Ghouls gangbanger approached Chao who sat behind a folding table, counting money. “It’s Baby Shanks, he says the cops came by to his place, questioned him about Box.”

  
Chao’s eyes narrowed, “Did he say anything?”  
The guy shook his head, “Didn’t day a word. Kid’s scared though.”

  
“Good,” Chao nodded, stood up, and walked around the table, “fear is good, makes you stronger.” He turned, “Send someone out to that station, we need to know what they know.”

  
——

  
Diane Lietz and Molly Cloud were waiting for the elevator together on the floor of AllSkin, but when the elevator doors opened they were greeted by the sight of the detectives from the day before and Diane’s face fell.

  
Molly looked over at her boss then back to Sarah and Holder, “We were actually about to head to lunch detectives. Maybe you could come back at another time?” the assistant asked.

  
“I’m afraid this can’t wait.” said Sarah, then seeing Molly was about to object she spoke over her, “We’ll ride down with you, try not to take up too much of your time.”

  
Reluctantly, Diane and Molly joined the detectives on the elevator and the doors closed. Holder reached into his jacket and took out the photo of Tung and Mary, “Do you recognize this man?”

  
Diane looked at the picture as Sarah watched her face closely. The woman’s eyebrows raised before contorting to confusion. Her hand reached out tentatively to take the photo before she stopped herself and looked up at Holder, “Where did you get this?” she asked in a shaky voice. When Holder didn’t answer her, her jaw clenched and she shook her head abruptly. “No I don’t know who that is.”

  
“His name is Tung Chen,” said Sarah, Diane looked as though she were going to faint and Molly audibly gasped, “did you know you daughter was in a relationship with him?”  
“Obviously not.” Diane bit out, disgust and hatred laced her words.

  
“Miss Lietz—”

  
“Seven months ago my life was ruined detective. Ruined! My daughter was murdered and my husband’s way of dealing with it? Sleeping with every slut that would uncross her legs for him. I have mourned the loss of my daughter, I have mourned the fact that her murderer will never be found. Then you come in here, you accuse me of murder, and you show me that picture, tell me my daughter was dating that hoodlum?! What’s the fucking point if not just to torture a grieving mother?!”  
Sarah’s lips pressed hard together, and spoke in a voice very different from the volume Diane had just used, in an intense, quiet voice, “You know Miss Lietz, I’m a mother too, and if it was my kid? I would want to know every single detail. I wouldn’t hide in my little glass box and just move on.”

  
“Alright Linden,” Holder put a hand on Sarah’s elbow out of sight of the two other woman.  
Tears shined in Diane’s eyes and Molly glared at the detectives. The elevator doors opened and Sarah walked out, Holder stood in the elevator for a moment. Diane was still looking at the place where Linden had stood. He left the elevator too.

  
——

  
On the way back to Seattle P.D., neither Holder or Sarah spoke for about ten minutes. Eventually he turned to her, her grip on the steering wheel was so tight he could see the blood had stopped flowing to her fingers and were stark white.

  
Holder cleared his throat, “What now?”

  
Sarah didn’t answer at first, he could almost see the gears turning in her head, “Let’s look into Loco Rojos. Do some digging.”

  
He nodded, “You want to talk about—”

  
“Nope.”

  
Her phone started to buzz in her pocket. She let go of the steering wheel and went to reach for it.

  
“Woah Linden! Damn, you wanna kill us?! Allow me.” Slowly, carefully Holder reached reached into her jacket pocket and withdrew her cell phone, she held out her hand expectantly, but he opened it the device and put it to his own ear, “Detective Linden’s cell phone?”

  
Sarah couldn’t hear the conversation, she looked over at Holder briefly and saw the expression on his face. He wasn’t playing around anymore, “What is it?”

  
“Yeah alright,” Holder closed the phone and put it in the cup holder, “change of plans. We got another body.”


	5. Day 3 (continued)

The detectives pulled up to the scene, yellow crime scene tape blocked off the perimeter of an abandoned house about 10 minutes away from Ling’s Laundry and several patrol cars lined the street with the officers standing at the tape’s barrier.

  
Sarah parked parallel to the crime scene tape. She and Holder got out of the car and a patrol officer lifted the barrier for them to duck under. As they drew near, Sarah could see the house had some rotting wooden steps leading up to an unstable looking stoop, the front door was barely attached to it’s hinges, and the widows she could see were shuttered.

  
The detectives walked through the sad excuse for a door and retrieved their flashlights from their pockets clicking them on. The room beyond was filled with CSUs and a handful of uniforms, the coroner crouched in the middle of the room, next to the body. As Sarah got closer she vaguely recognized the victim as another member of the Street Ghouls, but her brain was on overload because of the crime scene.

  
Her flashlight shined on the man who was lying in the middle of a circle of melted candles. He was naked from the waist up, and carved in to his flesh was the word “imposter” with the supposed murder weapon stabbed into his heart.

  
“Damn,” Holder was right behind her, his torch lighting up the victim as well. He moved the light around the room landing on something to the side of the victim, he walked over to it, “what kinda voodoo is this?”

  
Sarah went over to look at what he meant. On the table in the middle was a five point star inside of a circle, two candles had been placed on top of the circle several inches apart from one another and two different idols had been placed by each candle. A chalice was near the top of the star and next to it was an empty plate that had a few crumbs of some kind. There was a bell and two bowls to the bottom right of the star, one that looked like it was filled with water, and another with salt—or at least Sarah thought it was salt. To the left of the star was an incense burner, and a long wooden stick. Only one conclusion came to mind when she put all of the items together.  
“It’s an altar,” she looked closely, the candle on the left was green and the candle on the right red, “a Wiccan altar. Someone was performing some kind of ritual.” She turned back to the victim and went to the coroner, “What do we have?”

  
“The cause of death is most likely the stab wound to the chest. Stabbed directly where the heart is located, I’d be willing to bet the weapon perforated the heart.”

  
“You a betting woman?” Holder muttered, not looking at her but staring at the carving in the victim’s chest.

  
The coroner ignored him, “No I.D. but he has the same tattoo as your other victim.”

  
Sarah nodded, “Think he was killed here?”

  
“Nah,” said Holder “I don’t see any signs of a struggle. Gang banger like him would put up a fight.”

  
She nodded again and walked around the outside of the circle, the wax on some of the candles had burned all the way down to the floor, the wicks must have wilted on the others. Either way, the question was the same: what the hell had happened here?

  
“Damn, look at the handle.”

  
Sarah spun around, Holder was bent forward looking at the victim’s chest. She went to take a closer look, but it proved to be somewhat difficult because of the width of the circle and how far away the body was—she was not in the mood to get her head bitten off by the coroner about getting too close to the victim—but she saw what Holder was talking about. The otherwise black handle of the weapon had a silver design in the middle.

  
The symbol of the Three Goddesses.

  
“No way this could be a gang hit... right?” Holder asked, as though he needed the reassurance himself.

  
Sarah stood up straight and sighed, thinking for a moment before she shook her head, “We can’t rule anything out yet. Not until we have concrete reason not too. Let’s head back, do some digging on Locos Rojos,” she turned to the coroner, “Thanks very much. We’ll wait for your call.”

  
She was about to head outside when O’Leary walked in. He nodded to Linden and Holder, “Detectives.”

  
“What’s the gang unit doin’ here?” asked Holder not too politely.

  
“They, gave us a call. The area is known for Ghoul activity, thought it might have been a gang related incident.”

  
Sarah nodded and spoke cooly, “Well, looks like it’s our killer from before.”

  
O’Leary nodded, he peered around her. “Damn. Yeah, that’s a Ghoul.”

  
“You know him?”

  
“Jing Bao, street name “Tank”, come to think of it, he and Tung were pretty close.”

  
“That’s good to know, thanks.” She lifted her chin to the door, “We were just headed out so...”

  
O’Leary understood the dismissal and stepped aside, Sarah headed out of the house peeling off her gloves, Holder mirroring her actions right behind her.

  
“Yo,” he called “I got a pic of the altar on my phone. Maybe we stop by and ask Scryer about it?”

  
“Couldn’t hurt, we can do it on the way back. Besides, she might know more secrets about you.”

  
“That ain’t funny Linden.”

  
The corner of her mouth turned up, just a little.

  
——

  
A Street Ghoul watched the detectives leave the house and drive away in their car. Hurriedly, he took out his phone and dialed before speaking rapidly into the receiver, “Let me talk to Thor!”

  
——

  
When Sarah and Holder walked into Raven’s Oddities, Scryer was with a customer, but it hadn’t escaped her attention that the detectives were there to see her. Excusing herself she walked over to the pair of them, a tantalizing smile on her face, “Detectives, back for more?”

  
“Need to ask you something,” said Holder opening his phone, Scryer eyed him almost mischievously, “you recognize this?”

  
She crossed her arms as her eyes went to the phone screen, “That’s a traditional Wiccan altar. Or, at least close to one.”

  
“What do you mean close?” asked Sarah, her eyes squinting slightly.

  
Scryer smirked, a hand fiddling with the pendant around her neck, “It’s missing an athame.”

  
“A what?” asked Holder, “Is that even English?”

  
She smiled, “It is. An athame is a ceremonial blade with a black handle. It’s supposed to go in between the incense and the sand.”  
Linden raised a palm to stop her, “Did you say black handle?”

  
The way the detective spoke set something off in Scryer, her hand froze and the smile dropped from her face, “Um, yes. Traditionally, the athame is a blade with a black handle. It’s used for directing energy. Or cutting unwanted energies.”

  
Sarah nodded almost absentmindedly, “Is there anyway to tell what this altar may have been used for?”

  
The other woman shrugged, “Altars can have all sorts of purposes, depending on the ritual being performed.” she looked between the two detectives, “If you can tell me anything else you found I might be able to help.”

  
Sarah gave her a tight smile, “That won’t be necessary. Thanks for your help.” She turned and left, Holder closed his phone and nodded to the shop runner before following his partner out the door.

  
——

  
In Ling’s Laundromat, Chao “Thor” Liu stood with three other Street Ghouls, fury emanated off of him and the tension in the room palpable.

  
“The cops don’t care. They’re not doing anything.” he said in Mandarin, his compatriots nodded in agreement. “So we will. We do it today.”

  
“What about those detectives?” asked one of the men.

  
Chao’s face darkened, “We’ve told them to stay away. Going to Baby Shanks was a mistake, if they do anything like that again... we do what needs to be done.”

  
——

  
The whiteboard in the office didn’t look like it could be talking about one case at this point. Their first victim Tung “IceBox” Chen, found burned beyond recognition and nailed to a cross, the word “Impenitent” left at his feet a side note about a possible religious motive, and a Wiccan pendant in his mouth. The picture of Tung and Mary, along with details of Mary’s death and perhaps the motives of revenge by her mother a very successful high profile business woman. Then their second victim, killed perhaps during some Wiccan ritual, the word imposter cut into his skin, cause of death completely different. The only two things the victims had in common was that they were members of the same gang. In the bottom corner of the board was an asterisk about the Locos Rojos.

  
Holder finished pinning up the crime scene photos from the house, and stepped back to lean against the desk with Linden whose eyes flitted over the information in deep concentration, “What are you thinking?” he asked.

  
“The Locos Rojos have been rivals with the Street Ghouls for years. It started off as territory spats, then turned more serious. The Ghouls started running drugs about 20-years-ago, and a year after that so did the Rojos. Then the Rojos started funneling weapons, and a few months later so did the Ghouls. It’s been playing catch up, one with the other since then. Their hasn’t been any big conflict between them lately, so if this is the Rojos, it’d be a bold move. Flat out killing a Street Ghoul? They’d be starting a full out war.”

  
“Damn,” Holder chuckled, “Got that all from O’Leary?”

  
Sarah shrugged still looking at the board, “Some of it, some of it I just looked up myself.”

  
Holder huffed, “Like I said before, internets a beautiful place.” He pushed up off of the desk, “Ya think we should go talk to the Reds?” He looked over at Linden and smirked when she arched an eyebrow, “Yeah I know Spanish Linden.”

  
She shook her head, “I don’t know, maybe. I can’t see why the Wicca connection would be there though. And the messages,” she gestured to the pictures on the board, “impenitent and imposter? That seems personal.” She sighed, “Imposter... probably supposed to be Jesus right?”

  
Holder looked taken aback as the realization hit him, “Fake God... yeah imposter.”

  
Sarah rubbed a hand over her face, “So we need to stop this before we have a third victim on our hands.”

  
There was a soft knock on the door, an officer came in with a file and Holder met him halfway thanking him, before he opened the file and froze, “No fucking way.”

  
“What?” Sarah stood up straight.

  
“You’re not gonna believe this.”

  
“What?” She said, more impatiently now.

  
“We got a print off the weapon in the victims chest.”

  
“Who does it belong to?”

  
——

  
Diane Lietz walked into her daughter’s bedroom, which had been untouched since the day she had died. Her bed laid unmade, the sheets rumpled and dusty. On her bedside table was a picture of the three of them, husband, mother, daughter—back when they were happy, and together. Diane’s eyes filled with tears and she smiled. A small cloud of dust puffed into the air as she sat on the bed, causing the pillow to sink into the weight. She froze, she had felt something solid inside the pillow that had hit her leg. Diane reached inside the pillow case and her fingers closed a plastic baggie with some sort of tube inside. Pulling it out, she gasped. A needle and two small bags of some white powder material was in the bag. Diane couldn’t believe her eyes.

  
——

  
Molly Cloud walked into her home, “I’m home!” She looked down the hall to see the light in the kitchen was on, “Hello?”

  
“Coming!” Patrick O’Leary came around the corner with a big smile on his face, “Hey babe,” they embraced, “good day?”

  
Molly shrugged, “Just about the same.”

  
“I just put dinner in the oven, come on.” She gave him a kind smile.

  
——

  
Three Street Ghouls bangers dragged a struggling young Locos Rojos member around the back of a building and held him there. Chao stood waiting with Li, who handed Chao a wooden case, he opened it and retrieved a needle before giving the case back to Li.

  
With an unfriendly smile Chao walked forward to the young man, who was still trying to break out of their grasp, and said in English, “Let this be a lesson to your friends.”  
He bent forward and stabbed the needle into the man’s neck, emptying the contents.

Immediately, the Locos Rojos started to writhe and scream in pain, the Ghouls had released him and they merely watched as he suffered, satisfied with their work.  
Li looked pale.

  
——

  
“Doris Lietz?” asked Linden confused.

  
“Look at the photo.” said Holder, urgently.

  
Sarah stared at photo of the woman. Although she was younger, and had a different hair color there was no mistaking the resemblance: Doris Lietz, was Scryer Raven.


	6. Day 4

Sarah and Holder had sent patrol to pick up Scryer, as it was nearing midnight and they hadn’t eaten all day. While they waited, Holder had gone to the vending machine and gotten a few snacks, “Heads up,” he called, tossing her a bag of chips.

  
“Thanks,” Sarah said.

  
“Yup, got the feelin’ it’s gonna be a long night.”

  
She raised her eyebrows sardonically, “You too huh?”

  
He smiled, “How much you wanna bet we get her to confess tonight?”

  
She popped a chip into her mouth, “I think I’m done betting for now.”

  
“Aw, c’mon Linden. Don’t be like that.”

  
“Like what?” she asked, eyebrows contracting.

  
“A fun-killer! Besides I bought your dinner.”

  
She rolled her eyes, “Yes, very healthy and nutritious. I am eternally grateful.”

  
“You sound like one of them aliens from Toy Story.”

  
“Did you watch that a lot with Davie?”

  
He put his arms out, “Hey you don’t need a kid to watch an American classic.”

  
She let out a small laugh and he smiled, pleased with himself.

November 6, 2012  
Day 4  
  
Scryer Raven, AKA Doris Lietz, sat in Interrogation 1 at 2 a.m. fiddling with her necklace. Detectives Linden and Holder made their way inside and her head shot up as they came in.

  
“Good evening Miss Scryer,” said Sarah sitting across from her while Holder leaned against the wall to the side, “Or should I say, Miss Lietz?”

  
Scryer scowled, “Doris Lietz is dead.”  
“Not sure how that’s possible, you’re sitting right there,” said Holder.

  
“Why am I here?” Scryer snapped.  
Sarah opened the folder she had placed on the table, taking out the pictures of the victims. Holder watched Scryer closely as her eyes moved over the photographs, a sickly expression on her face, the last two pictures were of the altar and pendant. Sarah clasped her hands together on the table and looked over at the woman on the other side.  
“What is all this?” Scryer asked, her voice hoarse.

  
“Why don’t you tell me?” asked Detective Linden.

  
She looked up stricken, “I don’t know anything about this!”

  
“Are you sure about that?” asked Holder, “‘Cause from where I’m standin’ it looks like you used a bit of Wicca voodoo to take out your niece’s killers.”

  
“What? No! I never even met Mary! Diane wouldn’t let me near her.”

  
“Didn’t need to meet her to not care about her. They took her life so you took theres, ain't that right? You probably “saw” they were the ones responsible and took matters into your own hands.” He walked forward and put his hands on the table leaning in closer to her, “Get back in your sis’ good graces.”

  
“No! I did not!” She shook her head, her chest heaving, “Wicca is a peaceful, harmonic religion. This is barbaric, someone is trying to tarnish the practices.”

  
“I’d believe you Scryer,” said Sarah, “except that we found your fingerprint on one of the murder weapons.”

  
The color drained from Scryer’s face, “What?” Sarah slid the photo of the athame across the table. Recognition lit up in the woman’s eyes,“This... this is mine,” she looked up, “but it was stolen. Last week, it was stolen.”

  
“Sure it was,” Holder said in a false tone of belief.

  
“It was!” Scryer cried, “I woke up one morning and it was missing from the display case in the shop. I keep it behind the counter, I asked my other employee about it but they said they didn’t know what happened.”

  
“So it just,” he flung his hand in the air, “up and disappeared.”

  
“I’m not lying!” Frustrated tears shone in her eyes.

  
“Yeah aight, can anyone verify your whereabouts for November 30th from 1 - 4 a.m.?”

  
“I...” Scryer shook her head, “I closed the shop at 1 and went home alone,” she looked back and forth between the detectives, “please I didn’t do this.”

  
There was a knock at the door and without waiting it swung forward to reveal Carlson, “Detectives, I need a word.”

  
Sarah cast one more look at Scryer before standing up and going outside with Holder, Carlson waited until the door was shut, “Diane Lietz is here to see you, conference room.”  
The detectives exchanged looks astounded. It was 2 a.m. after all. Holder was the first to recover, “I’ll stay here.” he said. Sarah nodded and walked past their lieutenant.

  
The conference room, unlike an interrogation room did not have a two way mirror, and in lieu of a table where a suspect could be handcuffed, there was a small plush love seat against the wall and a round table with several chairs seated around it, as the room was usually used for family members and, or victims.

  
There was a pamphlet stand with different brochures available about drug and alcohol abuse, victims of violence and, or sexual assault and grieving family members. And along the wall was an array of cabinets, half of them had children supplies like coloring books and such, but there were also some first aid and evidence collection supplies in them too.

  
Diane was standing with her back to the door looking at a poster on the wall with a list of grief resources, “I remember getting this list. I was sitting in this room, and they gave it to me. I threw it away, but later... I wished I hadn’t.” Sarah’s eyes were glued to the back of Diane’s head, until the woman turned to face her, “Funny how things work out, I ended up right back here.” She put her purse down on the table and reached inside before pulling out a paper bag. “I found this in Mary’s pillow yesterday.”

  
Sarah went to one of the cabinets and withdrew a box of latex gloves slipping on a pair, then she stepped forward and took the bag, opening it. From inside she withdrew a plastic bag with a needle and powder. She looked at it closely, “Have you ever seen anything like this in your house before?”  
Diane shook her head, “If I’m being honest I had my suspicions. But... I didn’t want to believe them.” Sarah nodded, and after a beat of silence Diane said, “Detective, you said you would want to know. Did you... did you mean that?”

  
Sarah stopped looking at the contents of the bag and looked at the grieving mother in front of her, “I did.”

“Even... even if it means the truth will break your heart?”

  
Sarah swallowed and her lips parted, she thought for a moment before she said, “Yes, because they’re your child, part of you. Every part of them, is part of you the good, and the bad. If you only acknowledge the good you’re lying to yourself, and you’re doing your child a disservice. Acknowledging the bad, it means you can try to help them, and if you’re not able to help them, dissuade them... at the end of the day you know you tried instead of just pretending it didn’t happen. And you still love them, nothing will ever change that.” Tears fell down Diane’s face, she nodded and turned to leave, “Miss Lietz?”

  
“Yes?” Diane looked back at Sarah.

  
“Your sister, Doris.... When was the last time you spoke?”

  
Diane wiped her face, “It’s been um... years. She... we were never close. I was adopted into the family, I think she always resented me for it.”

  
“Did she ever meet your daughter?”

  
Diane thought for a moment, “I think maybe once, when Mary was 7-years-old. Our dad’s funeral. She was different though, dyed her hair, went by a different name. I don’t know what it was. Something to do with magic?”  
Detective Linden nodded, then held up the bag, “Thank-you for this, it’ll help.”

  
The grieving woman gave a curt nod, and left.  
Sarah’s phone buzzed in her pocket, she took it out and opened the phone still holding onto the drugs, “Linden here.”

  
“It’s O’Neal. We got a dead Loco Rojos gang member, Street Ghouls did it. You might want to get here.”

  
“We’ll be there soon,” she closed the phone and went back to the interrogation room. The door was open and Holder stood leaning against the table alone. Indignant, Linden found she couldn’t speak.

  
“Carlson made me let her go. Said if we didn’t have nothin’ but the fingerprint it wasn’t enough to hold her.”

  
She closed her eyes, frustrated beyond belief.

  
——

  
“Jefe!” a Loco Rojos gang member called out to and spoke quickly in Spanish to Isidro, as he walked around the corner with a few other gang members, “the Ghouls got Diego. Cops are all over the place!”

  
Isidro whirled on him quickly, “Where?”

  
“At your crib man!”

  
His eyes widened in anger, “What?!”

  
The man nodded, “I don’t know how they found out.”

  
Isidro shook his head, and rubbed his chin. He looked around at the other gang bangers who stood anxiously, their bodies filled with tension. Finally he turned back to the messenger, “They want a war? We’ll give them a war.”

  
——

  
O’Leary stood just outside the yellow house watching as Sarah and Holder pulled up to the scene. He gestured for them to follow him, and the detectives dutifully did so.

  
“How do you know if as the Ghouls?” asked Linden.

  
“Take a look.” O’Leary responded.

  
Just inside was a young Latino man bound to a chair, the letter’s “SG” had been carved into his scalp.

  
“Oh fuck,” Holder breathed out at the sight of the victim.

  
“How’d he die?” Sarah asked.

  
“We think a forcible overdose,” said the coroner, she had been crouching behind the victim, “found a needle still in his neck, it fell out and smashed though.”

  
Sarah’s head snapped quickly to the coroner, “We can still test what was inside though, right? To find out what the drugs were?”

  
At the abruptness of the question, the coroner gave Sarah a strange look as she nodded, “CSU will collect what they can.”

  
O’Leary looked at Sarah, “Why do you need to know about the drugs?”

  
“Diane Lietz came to see me, she found drugs in Mary’s room,” his eyebrows raised in surprise and she nodded, “when you get those results can you send them to us?”

  
“Sure thing.”

  
“Great, thanks,” she turned to Holder, “c’mon.”  
Quickly they walked back to the car, “What’re we doin’ Linden?”

  
“Well, Seattle is on the brink of a gang war, and we possibly have a third murder victim on the way. We need to try to see if we can stop at least one, if not both of those trains before they get here.”

  
“How we gonna do that? That Scryer lead took us no where, Carlson made us let us let her go if you’re forgettin’ and we don’t got nothin’ else to go on.”

  
Her hand froze on the door handle, “So we go over what we do have again, and hopefully O’Leary gets us those drug results back fast.”  
“Linden, it’s like 3 a.m.”

  
“Is there a problem?” She sounded heated, annoyed almost.

  
He lowered his head nearly hitting it on the car and opened the door, “Nope. No problem.”  
She opened her door and got in, Holder slid behind the wheel and drove off. They didn’t notice the car at the end of the street watching and following them.

  
——

  
Molly stood at the receptionist’s desk at AllSkin waiting anxiously checking her watch, it was 9:46 a.m. and Diane Lietz hadn’t come in to work yet which was not normal. Her head snapped up when she heard the elevator doors open and a breath of relief made it’s way out of her lips when she saw it was Diane, “Miss Lietz! There you are.”

  
Diane looked exhausted, her hair was slightly unkempt and her clothing was wrinkled, “Sorry I’m late, slept in.”

  
“No need to apologize, you are the boss,” Molly said smiling, “I was just worried something was wrong.”

  
“No,” she shook her head, “everything is fine. Thank-you Molly. What’s on the schedule today?”

  
——

  
Holder hung up the phone on his desk, “That was the coroner, confirmed the Wicca killing victim’s I.D. as Jing Bao aka “Tank”, and his cause of death as stabbing. But get this,” he leaned forward, “they also found traces of ketamine in his system.”

  
Sarah nodded once, “Alright so,” she turned her head away from her computer to face the board, “it’s probably safe to assume that our first vic was hit with ketamine as well, that would make it easier to kill them.”

  
“You know what they say about people who assume Linden,” said Holder, “means you’re an ass.”

  
She ignored him and stood up going to the board, she picked up the black marker and wrote the new information down.

  
It was nearly noon, Sarah and Holder had gone straight to the precinct from the Loco Rojos victim’s crime scene and had been examining and re-examining everything they had. She pulled out her phone for what Holder thought had to be the hundredth time.  
“Still nothing from O’Leary?”

  
Sarah shook her head, frustrated, “I’ll give him another 20 minutes, then I’ll track him down.” She looked back up at the board, “Something isn’t right. There’s too many red herrings.”

  
“I’m sorry, did you completely forget the whole shebang that was the Larsen murder?”  
She turned to look at him him, “That was different. You follow leads, you track them down, you eliminate them. This,” she pointed to the board, “they aren't leads. They’re herrings, distractions. Nothings been eliminated.”

  
He looked concerned, “All leads are red herrings Linden.”

  
“No—” she shook her head frustrated. How could she make him understand? “Maybe we should try to talk to Li again. I think that we could...” she got distracted by her phone buzzing in her pocket she looked at the caller I.D. that read Jack Linden and closed the phone.

  
“Who was that?”

  
“Doesn’t matter.” she stared intensely at the board, she knew it was here. If she could just—

  
The desk phone rang and she quickly picked up the phone from the cradle, “Linden.”

  
“Hey, it’s O’Leary. It’s been a hell of a morning, sorry it took me so long to call.”

  
“You got anything for us?” She asked putting him on speaker.

  
“The drug used on the vic this morning? It was some hyper-manipulated version of methamphetamine along with camphor oil. So basically, it’s a torture drug, induces pain. Sends the body into seizures along with all the side-effects of methamphetamine, but dramatically strong, and pain inducers. No clue how it came to be, CSU is having a field day.”

  
“No shit.” Holder sat up fast.

  
“Yeah, coroner says his heart gave out. Dose was too high.”

  
“So, he was tortured to death.” Sarah clarified.  
“Yeah. I’ll email you the specifics, all the science garble, but wanted to let you know.”  
She nodded, “I appreciate it, thanks. Hey, before you go, what do you make of the kid in the gang? I was thinking of trying to go back and question him again.”

  
“Kid?”

  
“Yeah, real young lookin’, maybe 15? Name is Li Zhang.” said Holder.

  
“Oh Yeah, “Baby Shanks”. He’s the youngest recruit, hangs around Chao a lot, they kinda got a “mentor” relationship going ya know? I’d be willing to bet he knows more then he lets on.”

  
“Great, thanks.” She hung up and turned to Holder.

  
“Was that what Diane Lietz brought in?” asked Holder. “The drugs that her daughter had?”  
Linden shook her head, “The syringe Mary had had traces of crystal meth along with some compound that allowed it to become injectable. The powder was pure crystal, it just hadn’t been mixed with the medium. No camphor oil.”

  
He shook his head, “Didn’t think this case could get more fucked up.”

  
Making a decision she put the marker down.  
“C’mon,” she went to grab her jacket which she had hung on the back of her chair, flinging it over one arm then the other.

  
Holder stood up and put his arms out, “Where we goin’?”

  
“To have another chat with Li, you heard O’Leary, the kid knows more then he’s letting on.”

  
“Yeah but he’s a gang banger Linden, no way he’s gonna turn on his brothas.”

  
“You coming or not?” Sarah walked out the door.

  
Holder threw back his head into the chair and used the momentum to throw himself forward to stand on his feet, “Alright, chill! Damn, woman.”

  
——

  
Outside of Ling’s Laundromat, Chao and Li headed inside the laundromat to see a group of Ghouls talking about something anxiously.  
“What is it?” Chao asked, but no one said anything, in fact they looked too scared to speak, “What?!”

  
“It’s Britches,” one of the kids said, “he’s inside, says the cops know about the drugs.”

  
“What?!” Chao stormed through the group of kids to the back room throwing open the door, “Britches, what the fuck!?”

  
O’Leary stood with his hands on his hips, “I couldn’t stop them. Your little display with the Spanish kid tipped them off.”

  
“That’s what we pay you for!” Chao snapped.

  
The cop glared, “Well I cant help you if you don’t tell me when you’re going to pull a shitty stunt like the one you did last night! I didn’t need to tell you this, I’m doing you a favor.” He scowled at Chao for a moment before he spoke again and nodded at Li, “I sent them to the kid’s place, they’re probably headed there now.”

  
Chao snarled and turned away, Li stared at the cop with apprehension. Before O’Leary could ask him what his problem was, Chao had called him and the kid was gone.

  
——

  
Diane sat behind her desk, staring at her computer screen but not really seeing what was on it. Then, suddenly she sprang into motion typing on the computer. In the search engine she put Doris Lietz and the result showed some middle and high school articles, but nothing recent. Diane struggled to think of what her sister had changed her name to. Then she remembered it had something to do with magic, the supernatural or witchcraft... maybe.

  
She typed in witchcraft Seattle stores, and low and behold: Raven’s Oddities, she clicked on the link and there she was, Scryer Raven, that was her sister. She grabbed a post it note and wrote down the address.

  
——

  
Sarah and Holder pulled up to Li Zhang’s house, the car coming to an abrupt halt by the curb. She undid her seatbelt with such fervor it nearly smacked into the glass of the window before she opened the door to get out. Not waiting for Holder, she made it across the yard and to the porch in record time, knocking on the screen door vehemently.

  
“You’re gonna scare the kid.” said Holder coming up behind her.

  
Sarah opened the screen door and knocked instead on the wooden door behind it, “No way this kid doesn’t know more then he’s saying.”  
He shrugged, “He’s probably scared shitless. Between the gang oaths and the killings ya know...”

  
Sarah turned the handle of the door and it opened. She looked back at Holder, who looked alarmed. Pushing the door open slowly she called out, “Li? It’s Detective Linden.”  
No answer.

  
Both Sarah and Holder’s hands went to their belts, unclipping their holsters in synchronization. Sarah looked back at Holder who gave her a short nod, then she turned back to the door, raising her weapon and making her way into the house with Holder right behind her. Keeping their guns and heads on a swivel they looked at the surroundings, but the house was dead silent with no sign of life inside. Sarah locked eyes with Holder again used her hands to indicate she would clear the right wing, if he would clear the left and he agreed with an abrupt nod before going down the hall.

  
Linden walked into the kitchen, and went to the closed door that was next to the refrigerator. She threw it open, and her gun swept right then left as she scanned the small pantry and laundry room. There was no one there. She made her way back into the living room, but here it was more obvious no one was there since it was such an open space.  
“Clear,” she called, but still not holstering her weapon yet. She looked out the back door onto the porch, and saw the same ash tray she had seen the other day.

  
It was still smoking.

  
“Holder!”

  
Quickly she went down the hall, and turned into Tung Chen’s room, her heart plummeted, it was though the breath in her lungs had been stolen when she saw what was inside. There were 6 Ghouls, 5 of whom had their weapons pointed in her direction. Holder was on his knees, his fingers laced together behind his head, and looking incredibly pissed, a gun was being pressed into the back of his neck by one of the gangbangers. Sarah’s breath came out in short pants at the sight of her partner, she still hadn’t lowered her gun, if anything her grip around the Glock had become tighter.  
“Drop it Detective,” said the man holding a gun to Holder’s head.

  
Sarah licked her dry lips, she looked at Holder and saw that he was trying to communicate with her, that by no means was she supposed to do what they said—but how could she not? She clicked the safety of the gun on and turned it upwards slowly, before crouching down to the ground and placing the firearm on the floor.

  
“Slide it over here.”

  
She kicked the gun over, and another gangbanger lowered his gun to retrieve it. Finally, she spoke, “What’s the plan here?”  
“We’re gonna take a little ride. You two are gonna be good little policemen and do what we say.”

  
“Why’s that?”

  
“Boss wants to see you,” he jerked his head, and two of his compatriots lowered their weapons and walked over to her, “don’t make no trouble now.”

  
“Can’t we all just talk here?” asked Holder, speaking for the first time since she had come into the room, “I mean it’s so nice and cozy in the bedroom, ya know what I’m sayin’?”  
He was silenced when the gun hit him in the temple knocking him out cold. Sarah winced as she watched him take the hit and go down, she could see blood on his head. The two gang members that had come towards her pulled her jack off and patted her down to check to see if she had any other weapons. Then one of them pulled her arms behind her back and she felt a zip tie securing her wrists together tightly. The man with the gun on Holder did the same to him.

  
After both detectives were secure, Sarah was walked out of the back of the house, while Holder was dragged, to where a white van was parked. A black hood was thrown over her head, and she was lifted up and thrown landing hard on what had to be the floor of the van. Another thud told her Holder had just been given the same treatment. She heard the doors slamming, and then the rumble of an engine as the van pulled away.

  
——

  
Diane walked down the sidewalk, across the street she saw the maroon awning for Raven’s Oddities. Scryer was fixing some display in the window. Diane crossed the street.

  
——

  
Chao sat in a chair in the rundown room and waited until his phone rang. He looked over at the kid across from him who stood against the wall with an unreadable expression on his face. Chao picked up the phone and answered, “What?”  
“We got ‘em.”

  
——

  
In the back of the van Linden and Holder laid awkwardly side by side, 4 Ghouls were in the front of the van. The other 2 Ghouls followed the van at a close distance driving the detective’s car.


	7. Day 4 (continued)

They couldn’t be in Seattle anymore, they had been driving for too long.

  
Sarah moved her legs slowly, kicking out gently trying to find Holder. Finally she came into contact with something somewhat squishy and scooted closer over to it.

  
“Holder?” No response. She couldn’t reach too far out with the zip ties restraining her hands they had been pulled extremely tight and made it difficult to move her arms. She turned onto her side and tried to reach back, her fingers grasped fabric and she shook it as best as she could, “Holder?!”

  
A groan answered, she held onto the fabric and waited, “Linden?”

  
“Yeah, it’s me,” Sarah said breathlessly, “are you okay?”

  
“Mm... yeah... head hurts like a bitch but, I’ll live,” he mumbled his voice almost swallowed by the hood around his head, “Linden...”

  
“Yeah?”

  
“They were waitin’ for us, they knew. How’d they know?” Sarah didn’t answer him, she didn’t know how to. When she didn’t answer he changed the subject, “Where we goin’?”

  
“Shut up back there!” Came a voice from the front.

  
“I don’t know...” she whispered.

  
They didn’t try to talk again. Finally, the van halted to a stop. It was sudden and ungraceful, Sarah rolled into right into Holder, she knew she had because he let out a grunt of pain when her body collided with his.

  
“Sorry,” she said softly.

  
“Is’all good,” said Holder, his voice pitched slightly higher then usual.

  
They heard the doors of the van thrown open, Sarah felt hands roughly grab her arms and haul her outside. She was placed on her feet and pushed forward, “Move!” someone barked at her. Unsure where she was going, and an uneasy feeling that had nothing to do with the fact she couldn’t see, she couldn’t help that she walked forward tentatively. Not quick enough for them, she felt a gun being shoved in between her shoulder blades, “Go on!” Gritting her teeth she fought back the urge to snap back.

  
After some time, someone placed a hand on her shoulder from the front stopping her, “Get on ya knees!”

  
Sarah didn’t move, and someone pushed her down, making her knees collide with solid concrete. The hood was ripped off of her head, wisps of red hair flying up with it before coming back down to rest on her scalp. She saw Holder was kneeling beside her, his hands tied behind his back as well, they glanced at each other briefly before looking up at their captors.

  
The Street Ghouls stood around, there were maybe 10 of them, at least that they could see, there were more then there had been in the house. Chao, came into view of Sarah and Holder and gave them a false smile, “Detectives, wonderful to see you again.”

  
“Can’t say I feel the same.” said Holder.

  
Chao’s eyes moved to Holder and held them there, “That’s a good thing though. Innit? Means my boys are doing their job,” he looked at Sarah, “like you. ‘Cause I get it. You have a job to do don't ya?” She didn’t say anything and he stepped forward, “I said, you have a job to do, don’t ya?”

  
She looked up at him, her gaze and neutral expression unwavering, “What do you want?”  
Chao turned and walked away, “Tough bitch right there.” he said to the other men, “they don’ make ‘em like that no more so they?” The other guys chuckled.

  
Sarah saw Li Zhang standing near the back, he was looking down at the ground and holding something in his hands.

  
“So you gonna tell us what we’re doin’ here homie?” Holder called, “‘Cause this floor is killing my knees.”

  
“Sure homie, I’ll tell ya why you’re here,” Chao said, “you’re here because you pigs couldn’t keep ya snouts out of our business. Now we gotta discuss how to proceed. I told you, I even warned you: lightning shouldn’t strike in the same place twice.”

  
“We’re cops,” Sarah gritted out, “We’re trying to find out who murdered your friend.”  
“We don’t need you for that,” spat Chao spitefully, “we’ll take care of that ourselves. And if you think bein’ cops is gonna hell you... you couldn’t be more wrong. So you take this as a warning, if you don’t stay away... shits gonna get a lot worse.”

  
She arched an eyebrow, “A lot worse than what?”

  
“A lot worse than what we’re gonna do to you right now.”

  
Suddenly, hands grabbed the detectives, a pair on each of their arms. Holder’s knees were forced harder into the ground, hands pressed firmly into the backs of his shoulders and gripping his upper arms anchoring him to the ground even as he struggled against them and shouted obscenities. Sarah was easily hauled to her feet and walked to the other side of the room before she was pushed back to her knees and held there.

  
“What are you doing?!” Sarah yelled harshly, jerking against the two men who placed her straight across from Holder, she watched him struggling to free himself as well.

  
Chao smirked mischievously and beckoned for Li to come forward. Sarah could now see that what he was carrying was a small wooden box which he handed over to Chao. The gang leader opened it and took out a a needle, “This here, is meth laced with a few other specialties, none of them nice. It’s gonna hurt a lot,” he flicked the needle looking at the contents. Then his eyes snapped up to meet Sarah’s, and his smile widened at the contemptuous look on her face.

  
He turned away from her abruptly and approached Holder, who became frantic and zeroed in onto the needle. Holder fought against his captors desperately, the two men holding him each tightened their hold and pressed their palms deeper into the backs of his shoulders.

  
“No! No don’t!” Sarah shouted desperately, trying to wrench out of her captors’ hold, the grips on her arms tightening as well. She saw Holder shaking his head, his eyes pleading. He was terrified.

  
“See this is what happens,” Chao stepped behind Holder and looked straight at Sarah, “when you cross with the Ghouls.” He wrapped an arm around Holder’s neck, the syringe turned towards skin and was ready to plunge—

  
“Give it to me!”

  
The syringe froze inches away from Holder’s neck, who was panting so hard his pulse point was pounding in his neck, the light above reflected off of the sweat the glistened down his face.

  
“Give it to ME!”

  
Chao looked up to face Sarah, he walked back from around Holder and took a few steps toward her, “You’d take this? Willingly? To spare your partner?” Behind him Holder was shaking his head, his mouth was moving trying to form a coherent sentence, but no sound coming out, he didn’t seem to be able speak.

  
Chao was right in front of her now, looking down at her. Sarah looked up straight into his eyes, her gaze furious and not daring to look away. She spoke in a dangerous voice, and said each word menacingly, “Give. It. To. Me.”  
He shrugged, “Alright, hold ‘er still.”

  
The gang members grips tightened around her arms again and Chao walked behind her, wrapping his arm around the front of her neck pinning her against his front. The smell of sweat and gunpowder filled her nostrils and made her feel sick, “Don’t move sweetheart.” She gasped as she felt the syringe plunge into her skin with a pinch.

  
“No!” Holder had found his voice, a thud and a groan followed his outburst but Sarah couldn’t see. The syringe was removed, and her zip ties were cut. The hands holding her down released her and she fell forward.

  
The effects were instantaneous, her entire body felt as though it were on fire and she couldn’t control her limbs as a seizure overtook her body. She felt her arms and legs collide with the cold hard ground, jerking around in spasms. The pain was immense, unlike anything she had ever experienced.  
Chao walked back over to Holder who glowered up at him, a vein close to bursting on his forehead. This didn’t deter the gang leader, “The next dose will be higher. Stay the fuck away from us.”

  
Holder’s zip ties were cut and the hands that had held him were gone and the gang left. He raced over to his partner sliding to his knees to get next to her convulsing form on the ground.

  
“Linden...” The seizure was still overtaking her body, he took off his hoodie and the cold night air bit at his skin as he bundled it up into as much of a ball as he could manage. Then he gently lifted her head and put the clothing under her head a pillow, before he turned her into her side. He heard footsteps approaching from behind, and whirled around, prepared to attack even though it would only be with his fists, but saw that the footsteps belonged to Li, who didn’t have a gun on him.

  
“The effects, they last like... 24 hours.” Li said, his voice shaking slightly. He reached into his pocket, and Holder tensed but the kid shook his head, “It’s just ya car keys. It’s parked out front, here.” Li held them out and Holder took the keys looking at the young man suspiciously. Li stuffed his hands back into his pockets, “I gotta go. They’ll be... I gotta go. I’m sorry.” He turned and left.

  
Holder turned back to Linden, sweat was pouring down her face, but she had become still. Her face was screwed up in anguish and her lips were pressed hard together,  
“Linden, can ya hear me?” She gave him a short jerky nod, “I’m gonna pick you up, take you to the car. Alright?” Another nod, so Holder put his arms under her shoulders and legs and scooped her up, grabbed the sweatshirt, and ran outside.

  
The car was right where Li had said it would be, Holder opened the back door and laid Sarah flat across the seats putting his hoodie under her head again before he closed the door and ran to get behind the wheel.  
“Alright Linden, talk to me. I need to know that you’re alright.”

  
Her answer was groan followed by her heavy labored breathing.

  
“Words girl, c’mon.”

  
“Where are we?” she asked her voice breathless and laced with anguish, “D-do you know? Can you see?”

  
It was a valid question, one he did not know the answer to. “Imma find out alright?” She grunted, his eyes moved to the rear-view mirror. He turned onto the road but after a few futile minutes, it was clear there was no way to tell where they were.

  
After about ten minutes saw some lights up ahead, elated and relieved he pressed down hard on the gas pedal and drove up to what was a 24-hour gas station. He parked sloppily in front of the convenience store at the station and reached back, his hand hovering above Sarah’s legs, “I’ll be right back, you hear? I’m not going nowhere, I just gotta find out how to get back.” She didn’t give him any sign she had heard him.

  
Holder bolted from the car and ran inside the convenience store that accompanied the station. A large man stood behind the register, and gave the detective a strange look as he ran into the place like a bat out of hell.

  
“Hey man, uh, which way is Seattle? How do I get there?”

  
The man pointed the way Holder had just driven from, “Head down to the left about 17 miles then follow the signs.”

  
“Aight thanks I appreciate it.” Holder had taken a few steps towards the door when the man behind the register spoke again,

  
“You know you’re bleeding right?” Holder turned to him, the other man pointed at his head, and Holder reached up to his head where he had been hit and sure enough he pulled his fingers away and saw blood. “You need the police?”

  
“No!” Holder snapped, thinking of a meth induced Linden in the car, “Nah I’m good. Thanks for ya help!” He ran back out to the car and glanced in the back seat seeing Sarah’s chest rising and falling, still breathing albeit rapidly, he was pretty sure he could actually see her heart beating in her chest. He started the engine and turned left out of the station.

  
“How you doin’ Linden?”

  
She let out a small groan of pain, “I’m alive.”  
He nodded, “Alive is good. Breathing is good, ya know?”

  
“Holder...”

  
“Yeah?”

  
“I think... I think I’m about to seize again.”

  
“Shit, for real?” He didn’t wait for an answer and pulled over the tires grinding into rock dirt. By the time he got out of the car the seizure had started and she was convulsing again. He ran to the back door that her head was closest to and made sure her head was still cushioned before turning her on her side. He kept his eyes on the clock in the car timing the episode; it stopped just short of four minutes and when it was over, Sarah wasn’t awake.

  
“Alright girl,” Holder rubbed her back and found she was drenched in sweat, her sweater was soaked in it. Making an executive decision, one he hoped he would not get yelled at for later, he took the bottom of her sweater and gently pulled it up over her head. Sarah had on a white t-shirt underneath which was also soaked through and he pretended not to see the black bra that was clearly visible underneath. She began to stir and he threw the sweater into the front seat and closed the back door going back to get behind the wheel and driving off again.

  
“Holder?” Sarah groaned from the back.

  
“Hey, you were right. You seized again. You remember?”

  
She grunted in pain, “No.”

  
“That kid from the Ghouls, he said this shit lasts about 24 hours. Just keep ya head on the hoodie aight? Your head needs to be cushioned if ya start to seize again. I’m taking you home, see if we can ride it out there, ‘cause ya know the meth an all. But if you seize longer then 5 minutes we gotta go to the hospital.”

  
“You know a lot about that? That from being an addict?”

  
“Yeah,” he said quietly, “I only learned that after getting clean though. Saw some things in meetings from people who were still using.”

  
“What, what are the other side effects?” She could feel her breathing was labored and talking was taking a lot of effort.

  
Holder scratched the back of his neck, “Makes your heart beat real fast, causes panic—”

  
“Hallucinations?”

  
“Yeah it can make you see shit that ain’t there,” he looked up into the rear view mirror again, “why’d you ask?”

  
Sarah tried to shake her head, “Doesn’t matter.”

  
“Don’t be doin’ that time me now Linden, ya gotta talk to me.”

  
She hesitated for a moment, “You,” she said finally, “you can’t be here.”

  
Oh shit, here we go.

  
“Linden I promise, I’m here. I’m really here. We’re driving back to my apartment, because some jackass hoodlums decided to take us for a joyride.”

  
Linden shook her head and tears leaked from the corners of her eyes, “God this shit hurts.”

  
Holder saw the sign ahead the gas attendant had spoken about, better yet, he could see the city on the horizon. “We’re close Linden, just hang in there.”


	8. Day 5

November 7, 2012  
Day 5

Holder carried Sarah into his apartment, “Think this means we’re married now,” he teased, “carrying you over the threshold of my place and whatnot.”

  
She didn’t respond. He took her into his bedroom and put her on the bed, her eyelids were half closed and she was murmuring to herself. He put his hand to her forehead which was cold and clammy but he figured that was due to the sweat that she was still covered in.  
Sarah caught Holder looking at her with pity and concern, and a wave of fury erupted inside of her, “Get out,” she spat, “I want you to go Holder.”

  
“No can do mamacita,” Holder shook his head, “I’m in this for the long haul.”

  
“I don’t need you!” The words came out heated and resentful.

  
He looked into her eyes, “I don’t care.” He knew it was the drug, he had first hand experience with the side effects, and O’Leary had said that the drug was amplified, making those side effects even stronger. He couldn’t even imagine what the camphor or pain inducers could be doing to her right now.

  
Sarah glared at him scornfully, or she tried to before her body flew into another seizure. It didn’t last long this time, only about a minute and a half. Holder stayed by her side through it. Sarah sank back into the mattress when it was over, a moan trapped in the back of her throat.

  
“I don’t need you...” she said it breathily, but still with a bite behind her words, “I’m alone, always have been. That’s the way it needs to be. My son is gone... he’s happy, he’s so happy. Without me. He’s happy again... he deserves to be. He doesn’t need me.”

  
Holder knew there was no way Linden would be talking about how she felt if she wasn’t doped up the way she was. Still, bearing her heart out like that it didn’t sit right with him. He shook his head, “That’s not true.”

  
Sarah didn’t seem to hear him, “He called me earlier... and I didn’t answer. Because he’s happy. He deserves to be happy, and I can’t...”

He remembered the phone call she had dismissed, and he shook his head again, “Jack loves you, and he’ll always need you.”

  
Sarah glared at him, her voice became stronger albeit briefly, “What the fuck do you know about it?!”

  
She tried to get up, but whatever else had been in the drug was causing her so much pain that she couldn’t move, and more tears fell from her eyes. She felt trapped.

  
A few minutes passed in silence, the only audible sound was Sarah’s ragged breathing. Holder watched helplessly as she dealt with whatever was going on inside her mind and body, “Why did you do it Linden?”

  
Genuinely confused, she jerked her head and looked back at him, “Do what?”

  
“They were gonna give it to me. You shoulda let them.”

  
Her eyes slammed close as a spasm of pain washed through her, her body tensed and nearly lifted off of the bed. When she eased back down she shook her head and looked at him with that look that said he had done something stupid, “How can you even ask me that? There’s no way I would let that happen to you.”

  
“So you let me watch it happen to you?” he said incredulously.

  
She actually managed a small smirk, “I’m not the one who got clean and stayed clean even after my son-of-bitch sponsor turned out to be a lying piece of shit. You got sober Holder... I wasn’t going to let them take that away from you.”

  
Stunned, Holder huffed and shook his head, “Damn Linden... always savin’ me.”

  
She was shaking again, “You deserve to be saved.” she said quietly.

  
Taken aback, he tried to ignore the well of emotion that grew at her words.

  
——

  
Diane sat at the small iron table outside of La Petite Oeuf Café, fingering the menu that had been placed in front of her. The chair across from her was empty, taunting almost. She picked up her mug and sipped her coffee, then she saw her.

  
“Hey,” said Scryer stuffing her phone into her bag, “I’m sorry I’m late. There was a bad accident on the I-5 Express. I should’ve called.”

  
“No, no it’s fine!” Diane said waving her off, “I’m just... glad you made it.”

  
Scryer raised her eyebrows and gave a short nod. The waiter came over and she ordered a tea which the waiter left to get leaving the estranged sisters alone once again.

  
“I was surprised to see you last night,” said Scryer, “I’m really not sure why I said yes to this.”

  
Diane gave her a kind smile, “I’m really glad you did. So thank-you.” Scryer nodded again, “Things have just been... I’ve been trying to pretend everything is okay, that I’ve moved on. But, I just... can’t keep pretending,” she locked eyes with Scryer, “I don’t want to keep living this way Doris.”

  
“My name isn’t Doris.” Scryer snapped then shut her eyes in regret, “I’m sorry, it’s just—”

  
“No! No, that was my mistake. Sorry um, Scryer,” Scryer gave her a small smile, “Why don’t you tell me what you’ve been up to these past few years?”

  
Scryer shrugged, “I mean there isn’t much to say. I just found a new way of life, opened the shop and I’ve been working there ever since.”

  
“You look happy, you looked happy yesterday. In the store I mean, I saw you fixing a display.”

  
“Yeah?” A small smile graced her face, “I mean, yeah. Wicca is something I... I think I found my calling.” She looked up at Diane, “What about you? You’re like some big hot shot now right? Guess you graduated from college.”

  
Diane nodded, “I did yes, but...” she sighed, “not because I really wanted to. I felt like I had to.”

  
“How’d you mean?”

  
“Mom and dad you know, they didn’t have to adopt me. But they did. And I know they wanted us to go to college, even if they never said it. I felt I owed them that.”

  
“Geez Diane...” Scryer shook her head.

  
“What?”

  
“You did the same thing when we were kids. Always did whatever mom and dad asked you to do. No matter what!”

  
“I thought it was the right thing.”

  
“Have you ever done anything for yourself?”  
There was a long pause before she spoke again. “I had a daughter, a beautiful daughter. And I loved her, so much.” She sniffed and tried to cover it with a cough, “But the business grew, and I let her drift away and now...”

  
Scryer looked at her sister, really looked at her. “I remember her, Mary I mean,” Diane looked up her eyes red, “At Dad’s funeral? This little kid walked up to me, I had no clue who she was. She came up to me, and asked me why my eyes were so blue.” she chuckled, “Something about the way she asked it just, struck me. Kid didn’t even wait for an answer just slipped away.”

  
Diane laughed, “She had a very short attention span.”

  
Scryer smiled, “She seemed really special. I’m sorry I didn’t get to know her more.”

  
“Yeah, me too.”

  
The waiter came over with Scryer’s tea, and the sister’s asked him to come back. They had spent all that time talking they hadn’t looked at their menus. When the waiter left, they still didn’t look at the menus, they kept conversing.

  
——

  
As the day progressed Linden became less hostile, but the pain she endured seemed to amplify. She began to have spasms of pain that would shoot through her entire body, to both of her and Holder’s horrors, some of the spasms were so a bad she would burst into tears. For Linden, this was the absolute worst thing that could happen, crying was something she did when she was alone, unless it could be avoided at all costs because that would be most ideal. The fact that Holder was there and she physically couldn’t do anything to hide her anguish, only added to her distress.

  
Holder realized this early on; it wasn’t too hard to figure out as he already had a good handle on the type of person she was. So when those bad spasms wrecked her, he didn’t let himself react physically, instead he remained calm and took to talking about his family. Right after one particularly bad spasm, Sarah had swallowed a scream before bursting into silent tears shaking her head furious with herself. Holder had been holding a cool washcloth to her forehead, and said quietly, “I ever tell you that I gave Davy his coin back? It was when he came to see me in the hospital, after that whole ordeal on the reservation, ya know.”

  
Sarah’s body was shaking with jerky aftershocks but she still managed to look into Holder’s eyes, though he couldn’t help but notice her rapid eye movements, she was still pretty high on the meth. She stuttered a little as she spoke, “What-what d-did he s-say?”

  
“He said, uh, he said it was like the one that he had used to have, I think he liked it. I told him to listen to his moms always, and that I’d be there for him.” Holder smiled, “Then he showed me his new Bruce Lee moves.”

  
Sarah smiled too, though it came out as more of a grimace, she shut her eyes tightly her face growing tense, “I’m sorry Holder.”

  
Holder’s eyebrows contracted in confusion, “What for?”

  
Huffing she shook her head, “Everything. The way I treated you when we first met, the reservation, kicking you out of the car all the time... this.”

  
“We’re partners it’s what we do.”

  
She huffed a laugh, “No it’s not. This is no where close to a conventional partnership.”

  
He shrugged, “Alright so we’re unconventional. Wouldn’t be my first time.”

  
Sarah didn’t speak again for a while, and Holder just stayed by her side. He was really itching for a smoke when his phone rang from an unknown caller (he had found their cell phones in the glove compartment of the car along with their Glocks), but he ignored it. The phone kept ringing though, every 5-minutes, it was an unknown caller each time. until finally he took it out of his pocket and saw it was an unknown caller each time. He still ignored it, choosing instead to be present to his partner.

  
“Take it Holder,” Sarah said slightly annoyed when the phone began to ring again, “it’s just going to keep ringing.”

  
Holder looked at her sweat soaked face, she gave him a slight nod, and he stood up, “I’ll be right back,” he turned and headed out of the room stopping just outside the door.  
He flipped the phone open, “Yeah, Holder.”

There was no response, annoyance flared and threatened to overtake him, he grit his teeth and growled out, “Who is this?!”

  
“Detective?”

  
Holder froze, he recognized that voice, “Li?”

  
The kid didn’t answer at first, but after a moment he said, “Yeah. Yeah it’s me. I uh...I need to talk to you guys. They don’t know I’m callin’, they can’t know. But... I’m done. I want out, I can help.”

  
Holder looked back at Sarah lying in the bed, “Alright man, we can do that. I can’t leave my partner though, that drug your boys put in her ain’t out of her system.”

  
“It has to be tomorrow,” the kid insisted.

  
“Alright, go to the station we’ll—”

  
“No!” Li cried, “Not unless you’re there!”

  
Holder raised a hand to calm the kid forgetting for a moment that he couldn’t see him,“Alright, alright. I’ll pick ya up tomorrow, got it? You have somewhere safe to be tonight, or you need me to come get you now?”

  
“It can’t be tonight,” Li insisted, “It has to be tomorrow. I’ll text you the address in the a.m.”

  
“Alright kid. We’ll be there.”

  
The line went dead, Holder closed the phone and went back into the bedroom taking a seat beside the bed.

  
Sarah gave him a curious look, “Who was it?”

  
“The kid from the Ghouls, Li.” said Holder, “I’m picking him up tomorrow, gang doesn’t know he’s gonna come, he says he can help.”

  
She gave him a glare, “Not by yourself you’re not.”

  
Slightly exasperated, Holder gestured his hand to indicate her body, “You’re ain’t in any state to go nowhere Linden.”

  
“I’m not letting you do that by yourself,” she insisted, “it could be a trap.”

  
He didn’t want to argue with her, so he dropped the subject, “Get some rest Linden.”

  
——

  
Diane and Scryer sat in Diane’s living room, a photo album laid out. Each of them had a glass of wine in hand as they flipped through the memories and shared an occasional laugh.

  
——

  
“We don’t wait for them to strike,” Isidro looked at the assembled members of Loco Rojos, “they started this. So we take the fight to them!”

  
——

  
The Street Ghouls assembled and packed up every firearm they seemed the possessed. Chao watched over them, his arms crossed, and nodding in approval.

  
——

  
Sarah slowly woke up, her entire body was aching and hurting, her skin was itchy and her shirt crusty with dried sweat, but her heart didn’t feel like it was going to beat out of her chest anymore and for that she was grateful. She tried to sit up, but with no luck, her body wasn’t complying and her limbs felt like lead.  
She turned her head to the right and startled; Holder was fast asleep, his arms crossed and his long lanky body leaned back in the folding chair. He must have stayed there all day, possibly, all night.


	9. Day 6

November 8, 2012  
Day 6

The sunrise was peeking through the curtains when Holder opened his eyes, unaware he had actually fallen asleep. Checking his phone he saw that Li hadn’t sent him the address for the rendezvous point, so he closed the phone and looked over at the bed to see Sarah sleeping peacefully. It looked like the drug was finally out of her system, thank god for small miracles.

  
Holder stood up and stretched before he leaned forward and placed two fingers on his partner’s neck feeling for a pulse. It wasn’t quite normal yet, but it also wasn’t nearly as fast as it had been yesterday, when he could literally see her heart beating in her chest abnormally fast.

  
Her eyes opened as his fingers pulled away and she met his gaze, blinking drearily, “Hi.”  
He couldn’t stop the chuckle, welcoming the damn relief that overtook him, “Hey 1-900, how ya feelin’?”

  
Sarah breathed out audibly through her nose and tried to sit up only to find herself having immense difficulty doing so. Holder put his hands out, “Woah there, don’t be doin’ nothin’ too stupid now, take it easy Linden.”

  
“I’m fine,” she said with no heat behind her words and looked back into his eyes, “thank-you.” The corners of her mouth turned up before she looked away, “Anything from Li yet?”

  
“Not yet, but it’s still real early. The sun just came up.”

  
She gave a small nod, “Did you sleep at all?”

  
He leaned back in the seat, “Yeah I got some shut eye.”

  
“Good that’s... that’s good.” Her mouth opened slightly and she took a small breath, “Holder what I said...”

  
“It’s all good...”

  
Sarah shook her head, “It’s not. You didn’t have to stay, you were helping me and I treated you like shit,” she chortled uncomfortably, “I’m not even sure why I did, I don’t know why. Yesterday... I don’t think I could’ve made it through the night with out you.”

  
Holder shook his head too, “That’s what it does to ya—the cristy I mean. Makes you aggressive, doubt everyone and everything around ya. So yesterday? That wasn’t you Linden.”

  
She pursed her lips and didn’t pursue the matter further, “How’s your head?”

  
“You mean this old thang?” he knocked on his temple grinning, a small gash at the top of his forehead had a bandage over it, “Still hard as a rock, no whacks gonna do me in.”

  
Sarah gave him a sardonic look, “Really? ‘Cause you hit the ground pretty hard after that whack.”

  
Color rose to his cheeks, “Yeah well is’all good.” He crossed his arms, “I can’t believe they pulled that though, I mean attackin’ cops? Risky as hell.”

  
She looked away, “I was thinking the same thing,” biting the inside of her cheek she looked back up at her partner and said, “you know we can’t tell anyone, right?”

  
“Yeah, I know.” Holder spoke gravely, all lightheartedness gone, “we don’t have evidence to prove it.”

  
“Not to mention, you know, the meth,” she looked shameful.

  
“You scared the hell outta me last night. Do me a favor? Never pull shit like that again.”

  
“I’m not making any promises,” she said with a small smile on her face, “we’re partners. We have each other’s backs.”

  
He shook his head and grinned, “Damn, Linden.” His phone buzzed and he grabbed it flipping it open, “Alright, our boy sent us an address, wants to meet in 45 minutes.” He stood up and watched as she struggled to get out of the bed, “Sure I can’t persuade you to stay here and get some more beauty sleep? I mean take a look in the mirror, ya kinda need it.”

  
“Positive,” she said breathless ignoring the jab, “c’mon Holder, let’s finish this.”

  
——

  
The car pulled up to the alleyway entrance and they waited, with the engine idling. Li had sent them the address of a grocery store on the other side of Seattle, it was lucky they left right when they did because the drive took 40 minutes. Sarah had fought to stay awake the whole ride, she was exhausted and her limbs were still heavy and aching.

  
“If you need to shut your eyes ya can,” Holder said as though he knew what she’d been thinking, “that’s gotta be the camphor or maybe the aftermath of the seizures. The meth would be making you feel like some kinda demented Energizer Bunny and you’d be all over the place.”

  
The corners of her mouth quirked up as she looked at him, “I’m alright,” she turned back to the front and the expression fell, “Holder.”  
  
“Hm?”

  
“Over there.”

  
Li was walking towards them, Holder flashed the headlights to get the kid’s attention. Li got up to the car and opened the backdoor but stopped, waiting for permission, “Come on son, we don’t got all day.” said Holder, and the kid climbed in and closed the door. They didn’t linger any longer and drove away.

  
——

  
By the time they got back to the precinct, Linden was a bit more mobile then she had been before. Both she and Holder sat across from Li in interrogation, neither of them spoke. Linden leaned back in her chair and Holder leaned forward—an ironic sight because it was usually the other way around.

  
“I was with IceBox and Tank the night that Mary girl died,” said Liu, “she and Box had been hookin’ up. That night she came to the house and the two of them got high, and we was just party-in’ the four of us. But, somethin’ went wrong, she musta took too much and started like convulsing before she was dead still. We was all freakin’, didn’t know what to do so we called Thor. He told us to dump her in that alley, make it look like it was a hit. Said he’d get in touch with Britches.”

  
“Britches?”

  
Li nodded, “Britches always covered for us, but I’d never met him. Made sure we didn’t go down for nothin’. And we didn’t, did we?” he sighed, “Then, early Friday mornin’ Thor tells me and Box to go to this meet. So we show up and we was waiting in the warehouse when I feel a pinch in my neck and suddenly I can’t move and I go to the ground. And I see Box is on the ground too and wasn’t moving neither. And this guy, he comes over and tells us to repent, and Box says ‘what the fuck for’ and the guy says Mary Lietz. So, Box tells him to fuck off shouting at him and whatnot ‘cause that was his girl ya know? Then he gets like dead silent, and the guy tells me to repent so I do. And, and he...” Li’s breathing is accelerating and he reaches for his right arm pulling up the sleeve of his shirt. A white bandage covered part of the skin just underneath his shoulder, he gently took off the bandage, revealing a red jagged ‘P’ cut into his skin.

  
“Penitent,” Holder muttered.

  
“I watched them do it. They covered Box in this stuff and lit a match. He was screamin’... he wouldn’t stop screamin’ until...” his voice went out.

  
“What do you mean, they?” asked Linden.  
  
“Someone else was with him,” said Li. “I think it was a woman, I kept hearing those high heels. But I don’t know who she was.” Linden and Holder waited, “I didn’t tell no one, I told Thor the meet was a bust and Box had bounced.”

  
“Did ya ever see the guy’s face?” asked Holder.

  
Li shook his head, “Two days ago Britches came to see Thor. Told him that you were looking into us again and found out about the drugs. He told Thor where to find you guys.” Li met Holder’s gaze, “I recognized his voice, Britches was the guy in the warehouse.”

  
Confused Holder sat back, “How’d he know?”

  
“Because he’s a cop.” said Linden, “Isn’t he?”

  
Li nodded, “I don’t know his real name but, he was bald and had this mustache.”

  
“No shit...” Holder’s eyes widened, Linden tensed and stood up nearly sending her chair flying. He turned to her, “Where you goin’?”

  
“Wait here.” she bit out heading to the door.

  
“Linden—”

  
“Wait here Holder!” She called heading down the hall.

  
Sarah stormed into the gang unit, her eyes sweeping the desks looking for her charge. He wasn’t that hard to miss, his bald head made him stand out, the fluorescent light reflecting off of it. Her hand went to her holster and she unclipped it, but didn’t draw her weapon. She walked up behind him, “Detective O’Leary?”. O’Leary turned around in his seat, a kind smile on his face. When he saw the grave expression that Sarah wore and her hand on her weapon his smile faded and his face darkened, “I need you to come with me.”

  
He seemed to think about her words, maybe even consider his options. The other cops were looking at them now, it wasn’t as though they were in a private setting. Sarah half expected a fight to break out, like she would need to deal with the entire gang unit jumping down her throat.

  
But O’Leary stood up, and tall as he was he looked down at her when he said, “Lead the way, Detective.”

  
She didn’t take her hand off of her weapon and jerked her head, “In front of me, we’re going back to homicide.” He nodded and walked ahead. They made it back without incident, and she had him sit in Interrogation 2. Holder joined her and they put a patrol officer with Li and confronted O’Leary together.

  
“I don’t what’s worse.” said Linden her arms crossed, leaning against the wall. “Killing a man by setting him on fire, being an informant for a violent gang or turning over one of your fellow officers to be tortured at the hands of said gang.”

  
O’Leary looked up at her, “You’re alive, aren't ya?”

  
“That’s not the fucking point and you know it.” spat Holder slamming his hand down on the table.

  
“You’ve been in their pocket for years.” she said, “Why turn on them now?”

  
O’Leary glared at her, “I was sick and tired of being used.”

  
“Who was your accomplice?”

  
“No one. I did it myself.”

  
Holder shook his head, “Nah, ya didn’t. We know ya didn’t. Who you covering for?”

  
“I did it myself.”

  
“Why did you care so much about Mary Lietz?” asked Linden changing tactics, “You asked them to “repent”, why?”

  
O’Leary didn’t respond, Linden pushed off of the wall, “Hang tight.” and she walked out to Interrogation 1 send long the patrol officer to watch O’Leary.

  
“I’m gettin’ dizzy with this back and forth shit,” muttered Holder.

  
Li looked up when they walked in and Linden didn’t waste any time, “Is there anything else you can remember about the woman who was with Britches?”

  
He shook his head, “No except I think it was a woman.”

  
“Nothing at all? What she sounded like? Smelled like? What she was wearing?”

  
The kid thought for a moment, then his eyes widened slightly, “Blue shoes,” he said and looked up at them. “These like, blue shoes with heels. I think they were velvet.”

  
“No fucking way.” Holder looked at Linden, who looked just as shocked as he felt.

  
——

  
They ran the siren as they sped towards the AllSkin building, not bothering to park in the garage the car screeched to a halt in front of the building.

  
“Backup’s on the way,” said Holder.

  
“We don’t have time,” Sarah shook her head, “we go in now.”

  
“You crazy? You could barely stand on two feet an hour ago!”

  
“I’ll manage,” she checked her sidearm and replaced the clip before tucking it into her holster, “Let’s go.”

  
Before he could protest any further she was out of the car. He groaned in frustration before following her. “Yo Linden! Wait up!”

  
They rode the elevator up to the AllSkin offices, when they got to the floor they walked right past the receptionist flashing their badges. Ahead they could see Diane in her office.

  
They both ran to the ramp and threw the door to the office open. Diane looked indignant, “What on earth—”

  
“Where’s Molly Cloud?” Sarah talked over her.

  
“Molly? I just sent her to get get some papers from the printer room. What’s going on?”

  
“Take us there, now.” She left no room for argument.

  
Miffed, Diane led them back down the ramp and through the office area, “Are you going to tell me what this is about?” she asked.

  
“We just need to speak with her immediately.”

  
“But why?”

  
CRASH!

  
Sarah heard the impact and turned around drawing her weapon. Holder had fallen down to his knees, blood trickling down his temple for the second day in a row. His holster was empty, and his own gun was being pointed at his neck. Molly has been hiding in a hall off to the right and had struck him with a chair. Now she stood behind him, her grip tight around his neck a furious expression on her face, “Don’t move!”

  
“Ms. Cloud, put the gun down.” Sarah spoke calmly.

  
“I mean it!” she pressed the weapon deeper into Holder’s neck.

  
“Know how to use that thing? Best be careful before you kill us both.” Holder muttered, the glare Linden sent him shut him up real quick.

  
“You don’t want to do this,” Linden reasoned, “don’t make things worse for yourself.”

  
Molly let out a cold laugh, “As if I’m not already done for. What’s one more crime gonna do?”

  
“I don’t understand...” said Diane, semi-hysterical, “Molly what’s...?”

  
The assistant turned to her boss, “I did it all for you,” she said, “I have loved you since the day we met.”

  
Holder couldn’t help himself, “Did not see that coming,” he winced as Molly shoved the gun even further into his neck and let out a cry of pain.

  
“All I ever wanted, was for you to love me back.”

  
“But...” Diane was shaking, tears were falling down her cheeks, “your boyfriend...”

  
“O’Leary? Please. I met him when he came to talk to you after Mary died. I saw what her death did to you, you were a shell of your former self, and those bastards needed to pay! O’Leary was easy to manipulate, to make him fall in love with me. I told him how destroyed you were, and how we needed to help give you closure. He agreed—turns out he was on their payroll, it was as though it was meant to be, I was meant to do this for you!

  
He told me those 3 had been there when Mary died. They were thieves, all three of them, they stole from you. And that other one, who claimed to have loved Mary? Fucking imposter. I know what love is, and it’s not leaving someone you care about on the ground in an alley.”

  
“Got them mixed up though didn’t ya?” said Holder, “Ya marked Tung as a thief, Jing as the imposter.”

  
Molly was seething with rage and hit the base of his skull with the butt of the gun before pulling him to his feet as he cried out in pain and stumbled, “I still got the point across didn’t I?” he was so tall she couldn’t quite reach his neck, so the gun moved to his side where she pushed it deep where his kidney was. She looked at Linden, “You were supposed to arrest her sister. That woman put Diane through hell, abandoning her, never being there for her. Not like I was! That third one, I thought for sure you would deduce it was her. I went through all that trouble of getting that knife of hers, but no. You let her go!”

  
Diane shook her head, crying now, “Molly...”

  
“You thought that if Scryer went to prison Diane would be happy?” said Linden, “You’d tell her it was you though, you avenged her daughter’s death and in the process had her sister put away. Then you could be happy together.”

  
Molly nodded, she dragged Holder back with her. He looked straight at his partner, “Linden...”

  
“It’s over Molly,” she said, “there’s no way out.”

  
“I’m not going to prison.”

  
Linden looked at Holder, he gave a small nod. “I can’t let you take Detective Holder, or hurt him anymore then you already have.”

  
“Molly, please!” cried Diane.

  
Molly hesitated at Diane’s pleading, and Holder moved. He put all of his weight downward dropping to the ground taking Molly with him, her arm released and furious she aimed the gun at his chest—

  
BANG!

  
Holder flinched, but didn’t feel anything. He looked around and saw Linden’s gun smoking, then he looked down: Molly Cloud was clutching her shoulder, blood spilling out from a bullet wound and crying in pain.

  
“Holder, move!”

  
Linden’s voice shook him out of his stupor and he scrambled to his feet to stand behind his partner who still had her gun on Molly. Sarah kicked Holder’s gun out of range from the woman, and reached into her jacket taking out her handcuffs. She kneeled by the wounded woman and pulled her hand away from the wound tightening one of the cuffs around it, “Molly Cloud, you are under arrest...” she attached the cuffed hand to her other one and read her her Miranda Rights.

  
A handful of patrol officers hurried onto the scene, Holder huffed and threw his arms up, “Sure, NOW you’re here.”

  
——

  
Patrol officers escorted Molly Cloud to the hospital who would probably need surgery before being officially booked and taken to jail.  
Detective Sarah Linden leaned against a brick building across the street from AllSkin, smoking a cigarette, and watching the busy activity. Patrol cars, CSUs, and two additional ambulances were on scene. Diane sat in the back of an ambulance being treated for shock, Holder left another ambulance and walked over to her. She reached into her pocket and offered him a cig, which he took and lit before leaning against the building as well. Neither of them spoke for a few minutes.

  
“Verdict?” she asked.

  
“All clear. No concussion, just some questionable life choices.” she huffed in amusement, “You?”

  
She shrugged, “I’m good.”

  
“Yeah?” he nodded, “That was some fine ass shooting ya know. Like, real good...” his voice got quiet. “Thanks Linden.” She didn’t answer, he took another hit and blew out the smoke, “So what’s next?”

  
Sarah sighed, “Li told on himself and the gang. They’ve arrested the other members who took us. They thought they’d get away with it because of O’Leary, but since he’s going away they don’t have anyone to protect them. So the gang war may be on hold.”

  
“What about Li?”

  
“I’ve spoken with a social worker, and put them in contact with each other,” she turned to him, “he’s going to have a chance at a normal life when he gets out.”

  
“Happy endings all around.”

  
They stood in silence for a while longer and finished their smokes.

  
“Need a ride?” she asked.

  
“You sure you should be driving?”

  
“I just shot someone who was inches away from you, and you’re worried about my driving?” he gave her a pointed look, and she nodded, “Fair enough, after all I was aiming for her head.”

  
“What?! Linden!” He saw the smile on her face though, and his mouth split into a grin.

  
——

  
Scryer pulled up to the building that the AllSkin offices were in, or as close to the building as she could get. There was an incredible amount of police activity, and her heart froze in her chest.

  
Bounding our of the car she ran past an officer who tried to stop her and screamed, “Diane! Diane?!” over and over until finally she caught sight of her sister in the back of an ambulance with an EMT. Diane looked up and saw her and burst into tears as Scryer ran to embrace her.

  
——

  
Molly watched the once estranged sisters embrace, and tears rolled down her cheeks.

  
——

  
“What you hungry for?” asked Holder, “I’m buyin’. Well, making, I’m making the food.”

  
They were driving back to the apartment, Linden was staring out the window. “Honestly I’m good with anything,” she sighed and looked over at him, “I’ll start looking for a place when we get back.”

  
He nodded casually, “Alright, no rush though ya know? I ain’t gonna kick you out.”

  
“I know.” She smiled. Her phone buzzed and she took it from her pocket to see that Jack was calling. She stared at his name while it buzzed a few more times.

  
“You should get that Linden.” She looked over at Holder who had glanced at the phone. He gave her a pointed look and nodded, “Go on, I won’t eavesdrop.”

  
She smirked and opened the phone, “Hi Jack.”


End file.
